The Science of the Lamps at The Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. December 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It doesn’t matter how long it has been since you last saw Science of the Lamps perform, some things are timeless enough to go at least a week without seeing. No more than a week though if you can ever help it and the twin dilemmas of appropriate funds and urging vocalist Kaya Herstad Carney to play more often with the imagery she deals out with utterly delicious precision are stacked in your favour.

As support to Stephen Langstaff on his return to Liverpool, The Science of the Lamps stripped back their normal set and let the words flow like mountain water down the thoughts of the audience who were hungry for enlightenment as well as passion and intrigue.

To sit and take in a different approach to the songs of a talented story teller is something else, it reaffirms a passion for the art of the fable, of the well presented tale and for Kaya  the art of story-telling is so well observed that at times she puts Hans Christian Andersen to shame.

The art of being able to tell a story seems to be engrained in the people of Scandinavia and it is a talent that many who come to Liverpool, at first to study in the rich heritage provided by the three Universities and the simple honesty of L.I.P.A., but then to immerse themselves into a city that grabs their uniqueness by the hand and asks them to thrill them with a tale of adventure in the dark of a Scandinavian winter, are willing to share.

Kaya Herstad Carney also deploys her other secret weapons onto the audience inside the Epstein Theatre, truthful charm and an impish sense of humour. It is that winning combination of humour, charm and searing ability that carries her choice of songs to full effect in a stripped back but nonetheless pulsating performance.

Songs such as 27 Club Reject, a rather fabulous cover of Britney Spear’s Toxic but carried with a darkness that makes the song less outwardly fun and more spine-tingling chilling, the very beautiful and arguably one of the finest songs released by an artist in Liverpool in the last decade, Duckling Hell, the pain behind Fight For Him and the very excellent and emotionally fulfilling Superhero Me. All were carried with honesty, delight and that very real spark of artistic ingenuity in which any tale told with passion is a tale worth revelling in.

If only there was a way to hear these songs more often, for in Science of the Lamps, there are many reasons to believe in the power of a well written story.

Ian D. Hall