This novel musical experience is back in London this year and it is quickly becoming one of the best ways to experience and engage with music. This concept is the brainchild of The Hush Collective, a group of talented young musicians with a strong desire to provide a unique and compelling listening experience.
In the Dark: The concept
The idea is to strip away all visual distractions and to bring listeners closer to the music where the nuances of melody, rhythm, and texture become pure, more pronounced and with a deeper impact. This allows the audience to hear the intimate vibration of every note, the crystal sound of the human voice, and reach a state of relaxation and personal bliss.
Into the Dark: The venue
This unique 60 minute show is performed in some of the most iconic places in the city. We went along to hear it at London’s oldest surviving church building, St Bartholomew The Great, now over 900 years old. With its superb acoustic, and grand open space looking splendid and mysterious in the low light, this place provided additional nuance and drama to this live musical event. From 20 March, Into the Dark will perform at the historic Chain Store, next to London’s only Lighthouse in Trinity Buoy Wharf.
Into the Dark: The performance
This bunch of young and talented musicians perform live, in total darkness. Without a conductor, and with continuous, gentle movement, they make the music flow and swirl, sometime hushed other times bursting into colourful rainbows of joyous and deep reaching out of this world sounds. There is no knowledge of what music is performed before the show but the soundscape is a rich tapestry of reworked ambient, Skandi and nu-folk, to experimental and classical pieces, all equally superbly performed.
The audience are given sleep masks and are invited to switch off completely (no peaking!) so they can make the most of this performance.
Into the Dark: The experience
At first, there is curiosity and excitement as this is likely to be a first for most music lovers. Then there is the location, the mystery and magic of the dark, the surprise of the first sounds and sometime the confusion of what to make of it, particularly if this is a first. Then, the power and beauty of the sound takes everyone to a very personal journey, stirring and exploring into deep feelings. There were sighs, and silent tears, there is a profound sensory reset that most people welcome as they disconnect from the outside world. We shed tears, then we felt overwhelming sense of calm and joy and finally we just allowed the healing power of music to perform its magic.
This was one of the best musical experience for us, and since, we learned that music is indeed best enjoyed in a safe and quiet setting and with the eyes closed ! In a world saturated with visual stimuli, this event reminds us of the sheer power of listening. No matter what goes on in one’s life, this experience can be meditative, healing, exhilarating, or even overwhelming, depending on the compositions being performed. A great event to introduce the young audience to a different type of music enjoyment or, perhaps, one evening to share with a loved one.
Checkout In the Dark website for performance dates, prices and to book. We advise advance booking as this is quickly becoming one of the sought-after things to do while in London this year.
For more ideas of things to do in London, please visit our What’s On or Theatre & Dance pages.