actress at studio 9294
Actress has been cooking up a storm this year. I thought his latest album release was an absolute stormer and loved every minute of it. I’ve seen him once before at Hydra’s Plastic People event in April 2023 at my beloved Printworks; he was on at half five in the afternoon, a relatively early slot, and came out with what I can only describe as heavy techno.
Blinking in surprise I turned to a mate of mine, “what?” is all I remember saying.
“He’s so good” is what I get back.
Good turned out to be an understatement as his set was the highlight of the day for me. From what I remember (8 months ago now), it was a stunning blend of heavier electronic beats and was a pleasant surprise in my penultimate trip to the infamous printing hall.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and you find me standing outside Studio 9294 in Hackney Wick, excited to see him perform live for the very first time.
studio 9294
Whilst I haven’t been in person to every venue in London, I like to think that I know of the majority of them, especially those that have late licences. Studio 9294 is one of those venues I had never heard of before and so I was surprised when we were told that it sometimes turns into a club on the weekends.
It’s comprised of three primary spaces:
The No. 90 Bar is the bar at the end of the row of the three spaces, it has an accompanying boat on the canal out the back
Studio 92 is the first event space in the row
Studio 94 is the second event space in the row and is where tonight’s gig was taking place
We find all this out from the person we bumped into in the smoking area out back of Studio 94 situated along the canal there. The Hackney Wick wide Body Movements festival takes over the entire space turning both Studios 92 and 94 into individual club rooms.
Today, however, both No. 90 and Studio 92 had been taken over by an office holiday party which meant that an inevitable return is being planned to check out those spaces in person.
Back inside Studio 94, the event space was intimate yet surprisingly spacious for such a small venue. Beer prices were once again atrocious (what’s happening London?) but the relaxed atmosphere made up for it. The mezzanine level sat over the bar had an absolute fire hazard of a staircase up to it, you had to go up or down it single file it was so narrow.
gig time
Parking ourselves to the left of the stage, we got ready for Actress to take the stage for the night’s main event. Three lifesize silver figurines were set up to mimic musicians in a band with two “singers” placed in front of mics, and a “keyboard player” with a KORG Kronos. Actress himself was set up behind these “musicians”.
The gig itself was a delightful blend of various ambient electronic sounds. Part of what I love so much about ambient gigs is how instead of it being about how danceable / singable the music is, it’s all about witnessing an artist push electronic sounds to new places and create dynamic soundscapes unique to their style. Actress did this wonderfully, moving from initial tranquil dreamscapes to heavier and deeper beats, similar to what he played at Printworks.
Rather frustratingly, a single speaker in front of where we were standing seemed to be rattling a little bit and, during rather drawn out and longer sequences, this became an annoyance and dented what was otherwise an interesting set.
Overall, it was an enjoyable set in an intriguing new venue for me. If you ever get the chance to see Actress DJing or live, I definitely recommend going.