Hymn For Her at l’Ancienne Fée Verte in Anlier, Belgium on 16 June 2024.
Something a little different for today’s post featuring Hymn For Her at the Ancienne Fée Verte in Anlier, Belgium.
Firstly, a few words about the venue (copied from a previous post): The Ancienne Fée Verte is a wonderful and very unique venue, located in the middle of nowhere in the deepest South of Belgium. A former farmhouse, the building was previously home to an alcohol shop, as well as to the smallest pub in Belgium. After the shop moved to new premises in Habay-la-Neuve, the pub closed its doors, much to the huge disappointment of this frequent visitor, as well as many others. However, the place reopened as an intimate concert venue in 2022, with the backing of the Entrepôt in Arlon, much to the delight of the pub’s former patrons. Concerts take place in the afternoon on Sundays and public holidays only on a maximum monthly basis, the team behind it all being volunteers. Due to the limited space inside the venue, concerts are mainly acoustic or semi-acoustic with the audience capacity limited to around 50 people.
The warm-up for today is very ably provided by Aidan Gibson, an Anglophone singer-songwriter originally from the same region of Belgium as the venue. Most of Aidan’s set is comprised of his own acoustic compositions, reminding me of some of the very successful solo singers emanating in recent years from the UK (think Ed Sheeran, Passenger). His Celtic roots are evident in his beautiful silky smooth voice, demonstrating a wide vocal range, particularly impressive in the higher range. A very talented young man and worth checking out his releases on your favourite social platforms.
So, onto the main act for the afternoon, Hymn For Her, a 3-piece family combo (originally) from Pennsylvania in the U.S. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from H4H prior to the concert, but they definitely won me over with their very varied set and family chemistry. Originally a 2-piece husband and wife duo, they were joined on a full-time basis by their daughter Diver on keyboards and vocals in 2022, although she was born and raised on the road with them whilst they were touring.
I was sort of expecting the American deep-south country folk style of music suggested by photos of (mother) Lucy playing banjo and what looks like a homemade cigar-box guitar. However, I was very pleasantly surprised by the variety of the styles of their material, ranging from country to rock to the trippy “Electric Love” from their latest album ‘Bloodier Than Blood’. Talking with (father) Wayne, a full one-man-band in his own right, before the show, I should have suspected an interest in rock with his referencing of Henry Rollins, The Pixies and even The Sleaford Mods. Daughter Diver mentioned to me that they all appreciate punk rock music too.
For once I took some video footage of the gig, so here is a short clip to give an idea of what they look and sound like:
Such a close-knit family unit, being together 24/7 (hence the title of their latest album, ‘Bloodier than Blood’), they play as tight as any band I’ve seen and their harmonies are perfectly pitched. In the end, a very positive discovery. I picked up their previous album, ‘Drive Til U Die’ on CD, following their own recommendation that it contains some of their rockier tracks, so may correspond with my musical tastes. I’m looking forward to listening to it when I get some quiet time.
