Fifteen girls, one church and a collection of cover versions doesn’t necessarily sound like an excellent night out but for those in the know, this promised to be an evening to remember.
As far as venues go, Scala and Kolacny Brothers could not have picked a finer setting than the Union Chapel. A striking octagonal building with stained-glass windows towering up five sides, the Gothic-inspired Victorian chapel was filled to capacity for the Belgian choir’s debut performance in the United Kingdom.
The concept of Scala has been dreamt up by the Kolacny brothers; Stijn conducts whilst his brother Steven supports on piano, as the all-female group make their way through re-workings of familiar rock and indie tracks alongside selected original compositions.
Whilst up to sixty-strong on occasion, it’s a smaller group of fifteen that have made their way onto English soil and it was a lone figure that opened up proceedings, her sole voice slowly united with others as the rest of the choir appeared one by one to create a haunting, yet mesmerising sound that captured attentions in the room immediately.
After that gentle introduction of a Kolacny original White Moon it was straight into a deep and dirty number, the girls belting through a thumping version of Marilyn Manson’s The Beautiful People with no expletives spared, although with the audience spellbound it’s hard to tell if anyone noticed.
Among the medley of covers that followed were a beautiful slowed-down version of Prince’s When Doves Cry, a tender re-working of Kings of Leon’s Use Somebody and the Foo Fighter’s Everlong. As if to show that they’re not simply a covers band, there are performances of their own; a lovely story of a child raised by Nuns is projected onto the screen behind the group as they performed the beautiful Raintears.
There’s some nice banter between the brothers between songs, examples including Steven apologising for his ‘children English’ in the songs he was worked himself and Stijn goading him for being old. It’s after this last piece of banter that the audience were treated to the group’s cover of Radiohead’s Creep, famously featured in the trailer for the cinema blockbuster The Social Network.
As the sun set outside and natural light disappeared within the chapel, the auditorium’s lighting set-up that had previously gone un-noticed came to life; the spotlighting of the choir on stage alongside a backdrop of candles strung along the balcony added to the ethereal ambience of the occasion.
After cracking through a bass-heavy version of KT Tunstall’s Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, they launched into a final cover of the evening, Depeche Mode’s I Feel You. With those in attendance encouraged to their feet for the penultimate number, and a terrific performance from the group overall it was no surprise that, as the girls finished, a rapturous standing ovation rang out around the chapel.
There was no doubt an encore was due after such a response and after a short pause off-stage Stijn and Steven returned to lead the girls through three more numbers. A cover of Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill carried on the feel-good vibe, before an enchanting re-working of U2’s With or Without You was sung with smiles on their faces, suggesting that they were enjoying the evening as much as the eight hundred that had filled the pews.
Finally, the girls arranged themselves upon the stage in the same formation as they had appeared and finished with another of Steven’s compositions, Red Moon. With almost impeccable timing, the candles dotted around the chapel flickered their last flames and it was to another deserved standing ovation that Scala and Kolacny Brothers left the stage.
It might not sound like much in words, fifteen girls working their way through a set of covers – but if you get hold of a ticket and the setting is right, you could be in for a special night…I was one of the lucky ones.