Roxanne de Bastion: From This Moment to Eternity

It’s a Thursday night on November 3rd and I’m sat upon a wooden chair, gazing up at the decorated walls and ceiling of St. Pancras Old Church in London. I’ve carefully chosen my spot, huddled against the radiator, the unusually warm October has made the first week of November all that chillier.

Myself and more than a hundred people have congregated to take part in the recording of Roxanne de Bastion’s first live album, and her last performance of 2022. Join us as we reexperience this intimate concert, with a Q&A from Roxanne reminiscing about that night.

We wrote extensively about the career of Roxanne de Bastion in early 2021, featuring an insightful phone conversation where we discussed her celebrated album ‘Heirlooms & Hearsay’, released in 2017. During the pandemic, de Bastion began promoting her next album, ‘You & Me, We Are The Same’, produced by Bernard Butler. This included the release of five music videos, a British headline tour and support tours with Nerina Pallot, Katie Melua and Howard Jones.

To celebrate a brilliant round of touring post-lockdown, the headline performance at St. Pancras Old Church would be Roxanne’s final outing of the year. Unlike her full band shows on her headline tour, this performance would strip back the arrangements of her music, revealing the core messages of the songs, perfect for the venue they were being played in.

The premise of the gig was unusual in that everyone who was going knew the night was being recorded for a live album. Indeed, you could pre-order a copy of the album with your ticket – CDs are still available from Roxanne’s Bandcamp page. The record would be taken from just this single night, so there could be no mistakes! Luckily, the performances from that evening were flawless, as you’ll soon hear.

Antonio Lulic. Image Credit: James Hammick. (Instagram: @66james99)

The doors to the Church opened around half 7 that evening. Soon after, a man jumped on stage, strapped on an acoustic guitar and introduced himself to the crowd. This was Antonio Lulic, Roxanne’s support act for the evening. He was warm and friendly to the crowd, a perfect fit to open for de Bastion, playing selections from his ‘Never Or Tonight’ and ‘Son’ EPs, plus his 2018 release ‘Departures’.

Lulic remarked that he wouldn’t be a member of the Musicians’ Union without mentioning an ex-girlfriend, and later on, the government. The latter would be criticised in a piece called ‘False Positives’, inspired by the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes by the Metropolitan Police, an incredibly powerful and impassioned moment in his set.

Antonio Lulic concluded his support slot in a more light-hearted way, fulfilling a prior promise to Roxanne de Bastion that he’d get the crowd singing along. He mashed together his song ‘Boozehound’ with ‘Use Somebody’ by Kings Of Leon and Paul Simon’s ‘You Can Call Me Al’, uniting the audience and setting the stage for de Bastion’s set.

‘Good evening London!’

Roxanne took to the Church stage at 9 o’clock, opening her live record with ‘Delete Forget Repeat’, an album track from ‘You & Me, We Are The Same’. Proving that music is a universally shared experience, in April last year it surprised Roxanne somewhat that this song received airplay during three consecutive nights of Sky Sports Darts!

For this performance, de Bastion was joined by guitarist and vocalist Zoe Konez (whose band CATBEAR recently went on tour with The Subways). The music would be additionally augmented by violinist Jessica Roch and Meg Ella on cello and backing vocals. Though the ensemble would come and go throughout the evening, this song would feature the full complement.

From left to right - Zoe Konez, Roxanne de Bastion, Jessica Roch and Meg Ella. Image Credit: James Hammick. (Instagram: @66james99)

‘Can we call it by its name, and hope it never comes again?’

For the only time during the show, de Bastion would sing without playing an instrument, as it’s Zoe Konez who plays acoustic guitar in ‘Delete Forget Repeat’. It's also Zoe’s voice who contributes the line, ‘hot topics, hot topics’, while Meg Ella adds more textual backing vocals.

The arrangement and tone of this song would be altered dramatically this evening, as the prominent rhythm section from the album version is removed to give more emphasis on the vocal and string elements. The acoustics of the Church lent themselves well to Roxanne’s soaring voice, particularly, ‘From the servant to the king, the long way around and back again, the dimly lit library tomb…’ It’s a moment captured well on the recording, superbly mixed by Kristofer Harris.

‘Train Tracks’ would be the only song from ‘Heirlooms & Hearsay’ to feature on this live album, with Roxanne taking up her trusty black and white Rickenbacker to perform a faithful rendition. For this song and much of this record, the ensemble would feature all but Zoe Konez, who would return later.

This song is de Bastion’s ode to her time as a travelling musician, a pre-pandemic written counterpart being her book ‘Tales From The Rails’. In response to the lyric, ‘Europe’s really large and, England’s Europe too’, there was a knowing murmur of laughter amongst the audience, though unfortunately inaudible on this album.

‘Thank you so much.’

The beautiful closing track on ‘You & Me, We Are The Same’ is given an early showing at St. Pancras Old Church. A prayer in the form of a song, fitting for the venue Roxanne has chosen for her live album and heightened by Jessica Roch and Meg Ella’s string accompaniment.

This album was written during the time when Roxanne de Bastion was losing her father to terminal illness. And while the album doesn’t transparently refer to the magnitude of this event in Roxanne’s life, ‘The Weight’ is an example of how you can as an artist take the emotion from a situation as raw as this, and paint it magnificently into art:

‘I feel so small, now that I have learned to feel The Weight of love, with the density of the universe, may you savour every single drop of it, like a raspberry, let it fill you in, from this moment to eternity.’

‘On the horizon, ever elusive, hey I’m going to try some, how do I use it?’

Moving over to the piano keyboard, Roxanne performs her most recent single, ‘Ordinary Love’. The message in this song is simple, but it’s one that isn’t written about often enough. The subject of love is usually portrayed as being overwhelming, powerful, spontaneous and…extraordinary. All of these things can be true of course, but in reality, the most common experience of love is regular, even mundane in the most fantastically reliable way. And that’s the love that is celebrated in this song, expanded by Max Bandicoot’s music video centred around Rough Trade East’s photobooth in London.

In this album version you can hear the gravity of Bernard Butler’s production. There are no actual drums on this record, and very little bass guitar. Much of the beats are made percussively, stomping and finding objects to tap or hit. There is also more guitar and grit than ever heard before in Roxanne’s music. There is a staple of beauty, with the reality of life. Both here and on ‘Live At St. Pancras Old Church’, de Bastion reaches spectacularly in the final moments of the song, taking the message up another notch.

‘Look, don’t you start. I’m having a bad time…’

Roxanne remains at the piano for ‘Heavy Lifting’, another song closer to the subject of emotional turmoil on ‘You & Me, We Are The Same’. It was released as the second single from the album during lockdown in late 2020 and was the current moment at the time of our career piece in 2021.

Image Credit: James Hammick. (Instagram: @66james99)

Although the audience are respectfully silent during most of this evening’s programme, it’s during ‘Heavy Lifting’ where the emotional weight of Roxanne’s performance is felt deeply by the congregation. Lines such as ‘I am done, enough already’ heralded a new honesty in de Bastion’s music, one of the many reasons why ‘You & Me, We Are The Same’ stands as her best work yet.

The final verse, ‘Stare through the wall, typical landlord shade of white. Turn to face the window, here comes that low hanging light…’ is perfect, because everyone knows what it means and how it describes the feeling Roxanne de Bastion is trying to convey in this song.

‘I Remember Everything’ was inspired by Kim Peek, who is better known as being the inspiration for the character of Raymond Babbitt in ‘Rain Man’ (1988). While watching a documentary, Roxanne saw symmetry in the way Kim Peek spoke poetically about his Dad, who cared for him saying, ‘My Dad and I share the same shadow.’

Some of the artwork relating to ‘You & Me, We Are The Same’ includes mirrors and mirror images. One such inclusion is an image of Roxanne de Bastion side by side with an image of her father Richard, their look bearing a striking resemblance. The cover of the lyric booklet imitates a fractured mirror, where shards also contain both images of Roxanne and Richard. Her father was a musician too, who can be heard singing with Roxanne on her Patreon page, and playing piano on the album version of ‘Train Tracks’.

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A post shared by Roxanne de Bastion (@roxannemusic)

Above is Graeme Maguire’s music video for ‘I Remember Everything’, with stock images provided by the Prelinger Archives. Though none of the percussive elements in this studio version are reproduced in Roxanne’s stripped down gig, she continues to interpret her work comfortably at the piano, bolstered by the string players.

‘I can tell there’s something on your mind, though I can’t get out of mine, let me reassure you that we’re fine.’

Like all of ‘You & Me, We Are The Same’, this song contains wonderful lyricism. The chorus is built around a phrase Dustin Hoffman said to Kim Peek upon meeting each other in 1987. Coupled with Roxanne’s melody, this makes ‘I Remember Everything’ one of the most uplifting songs on the album. The line is, ‘If I am a star, you are the heavens’ - surely the loveliest compliment a person can give to another soul.

It’s this chorus that Bernard Butler pushed Roxanne to take an octave up at the end of the song during their time making the album. Roxanne’s fear would be that her voice would sound strained on the recording, to which Butler’s response was, ‘better strained than restrained.’

‘Every now and then, when I’m back in Berlin, I see my friends, they’ve grown up since I lived in this town…’

‘London, I Miss You’ is exactly what it is, a piece about Roxanne’s yearning for her English home when she is away, touching on the theme of travel as she does in ‘Train Tracks’. The kind of song that has the feeling of being completely written in one pass during a thoughtful moment at the piano. For this concert, it was a rare song in which de Bastion played alone, reproducing the album version’s simplicity without the noisy transition to ‘The Weight’ as performed at previous headline shows.

Before the next song, the audience are treated to some of Roxanne de Bastion’s excellent stage banter:

“This is going by very quickly, we have three more songs for you and did someone just say, ‘What!?’ That was nearly like a ‘I want my money back!’ disgruntled one. It’s the last three songs that are like, you know the dance, like on the official set, and then, like pretend to go away for a minute, maybe put on one of the Pope robes, Pope? He hasn’t been here. It’s a very fun backstage. We haven’t rummaged too much, I promise. But yeah, erm, right but this is the moment of the night where I get to introduce a special guest. Everybody can we have a huge round of applause for Zoe Konez!”

‘How does it feel? Ruins at your heels, your head underground…’

Roxanne performed the first verse of ‘Erase’ largely unaccompanied, with Meg Ella joining on cello for the first chorus. Though the power of the single is intentionally side-stepped for this concert, there is still an intensity that draws you in. The combination of melodic guitar from Zoe Konez, Jessica Roch’s quivering violin and Ella’s cello wraps around de Bastion’s lyric and lifts the audience out of the walls of the Church, transporting them to another plane.

‘Erase’ was Roxanne’s first single from ‘You & Me, We Are The Same’, released back in May 2020, and the first song this reviewer ever heard from this artist. In 2022, Roxanne would release the music video for this track, shot in St. John’s Church in Hoxton with Max Bandicoot. ‘Erase’ later received a remix from The Anchoress, which was played on BBC 6 Music.

“This is a song called ‘Molecules’. Honestly, before I go into the song, thank you so much for coming out, it’s just been such a pleasure this year to tour again and I’ve been able to do it lots and this is the last one of the year, that is why I’m dressed as a Christmas tree today. But, yeah it’s just so, so, so heart-warming for my little musician heart to have you all here today and be part of this, yeah, this thing, so thank you so much!”

Roxanne noticed that some people had been singing along for a few of the songs, but for this song, it would be mandatory, which induced a response of nervous laughter. She would go on to explain the premise of the track:

‘It’s a musing on whether there is such a thing as divinity. Ha, and if there is, maybe we’ve got it all wrong and it’s not some like external thing, this is the moment when all the lights start flickering. Maybe it’s not some external thing, maybe it’s more of an internal thing, more on a molecular level.’

Spiritually timed, de Bastion interrupts her instruction of audience participation to bless a sneezing member of the congregation. The conclusion of her speech gave the line she wanted the audience to sing along to, but in their best Kraftwerk impersonation.

‘Molecules’ single artwork by Nayfe Slusjan with photography by Amanda Rose.

The heart-stopping ‘Molecules’ is a highlight in the catalogue of Roxanne de Bastion, and a powerful album opener to ‘You & Me, We Are The Same’. I defy anyone to watch the enthralling music video by Graeme Maguire and Amanda Rose and not be drawn in by its hypnotic nature. The gradually escalating production, the stomping and clapping of Bernard Butler and de Bastion, spine-chilling strings and barely contained screaming guitars would be thrilling even without Roxanne’s tremendous lyric.

There was a reason why the audience participation was mandatory. Most lines of the song are followed by the lyric, ‘That might be God, they might have mislabelled that,’ which the attendance hauntingly provided when encouraged by de Bastion. The lyric to ‘Molecules’ demonstrates power in multiple ways, ‘Rip out a flower and watch it grow back,’ and ‘Hum a tune and watch concrete crack.’ But our favourite line is the timeless, ‘You can internalise opinion and call it fact, as if it’s gospel, you might have mislabelled that.’

‘Ok, are you ready? 1, 2, 3, go!’

For Roxanne de Bastion’s encore, there could only be one song to finish her show. ‘Red & White Blood Cells’ has become a closing staple of de Bastion’s performances for some time, and is the earliest song from her oeuvre to feature on ‘Live At St. Pancras Old Church’. During our interview in November 2020, we asked about the inspiration for ‘Red & White Blood Cells’:

“Genuinely a doctor’s visit! It was nothing serious at all, and I’ve had so many concerned comments from people like thinking that there was something really wrong with me. I’m interested in language anyway and I’m very interested in expressing things or using vernacular in songs that aren’t commonly used? It’s hard- you know you never really know where inspiration will come from but ‘Red & White Blood Cells’ was written- it was one of those songs that came to me and then kind of written instantly. I think it was- the whole thing- I picked up the guitar, played that one note, and I think it wrote itself. But yeah, just a small white blood cell deficiency, which wasn’t in any way meant to be dramatic (laughs). I think as a songwriter you just see pattern and weird connections that other people don’t see maybe? (laughs)” – Roxanne de Bastion (Moths and Giraffes, January 2021)

As well as being a set staple, it has also become tradition for audiences to participate in the call and response part of the song. This even continued during Roxanne’s lockdown performances with chat messaging features! Roxanne begins the chorus with, ‘It’s between you!’ And the audience shouts out ‘YOU!’ ‘-and me, and Red & White’ with the crowd repeating ‘WHITE!’, ‘-Blood Cells.’ It’s now so regular that audiences rarely have to be explained what to do in this situation. And it’s a glorious and fun way to finish a great evening of music, and Roxanne de Bastion’s year of touring.

In 2023, Roxanne has shown no signs of slowing down, with a headline show at Berlin’s Art Stalker, a return to living room performances and a special gig for International Women’s Day. The latter took Roxanne to Bush Hall in London where she performed a new song with Michele Stodart and an ensemble take on ‘Molecules’. On March 22nd, Roxanne is continuing her series of concerts celebrating The Beatles with ‘60 Years of Please Please Me and With The Beatles’ at the LEAF On Bold Street in Liverpool. Tickets are still available here.

Continue reading for our Q&A with Roxanne de Bastion. We go back to that cold November night at St. Pancras Old Church, but we also ask Roxanne about her support tours with Katie Melua and Howard Jones as well as her latest studio album ‘You & Me, We Are The Same’. All this and more below!

1. Firstly I'd like to say thank you for a brilliant show at St. Pancras Old Church! What made you want to record your first live album at this venue, and in this stripped back way?

Thanks for coming! It's such a special, well loved music venue. I actually had a show booked in at St. Pancras Old Church back in March 2020, which we unfortunately ended up cancelling due to the pandemic. It felt like a full-circle-moment to finally be able to play that show and worthy of capturing it.

2. The audience were very respectful at this show, is that usual for a Roxanne de Bastion gig? Or is it the effect of playing in a church?

You know, I got quite emotional after that show because I was thinking what a lovely audience I have. The people who come to my shows are so positive and so supportive, I feel really lucky that my music seems to attract a thoughtful, kind human. There is definitely something about a church though that makes everyone a little more hushed and well behaved than in a venue with sticky floors, so that added to the revenant vibe we had on the night.

3. I noticed some acknowledgement in the crowd when you sang the 'England's Europe too' line in 'Train Tracks', what kind of reaction does that get outside the UK?

The same, if not stronger. The vast majority of people outside of the UK see what a silly own-goal Brexit was and is.

4. As well as Meg Ella and Jessica Roch, it was exciting to see you playing with Zoe Konez too for a few numbers, when did you first meet Zoe? Was this section of the show always meant to have an additional guitarist?

Aw well Zoe and I go way back! We've just been on a similar 'acoustic gigs around London' scene. She used to put on great nights across town and I played a couple of those. I really enjoyed having Zoe in the band on my headline tour earlier this year so I definitely always had that in mind when I started planning this show. It's special to get to share the stage with people who are also your good mates, it's really fun.

5. You've had a busy year being back on the road, both as a headliner and as a support act. How were your supporting tours with Katie Melua and Howard Jones? Is touring in Germany all that different from touring in the UK?

TERI THE SUPPORT TOURS WERE SOOOOO DREAMY! Caps lock warranted... I had the best time opening for both Katie and Howard. They are both incredible artists and after the last years we've had it was just such a joy to get to perform on bigger stages to new audiences. The Katie Melua dates were in the most stunning outdoor venues, so that was pretty special. There's no real difference in touring Germany, other than the fact that I try to do my stage talk in German (which took some practice / getting used to!) and that, generally, bands are a little better looked after in mainland Europe (the catering on the Katie Melua tour was unreal - I am officially spoiled now).

6. Of course, this past year you've been promoting your latest album, 'You & Me, We Are The Same' which is an exceptional record. After hanging onto that for a while due to the pandemic, how does it feel to be playing these songs to people at last?

Usually you'd road test songs before you record them, but in this instance, that wasn't possible with most of the songs off this album. It felt very gratifying to finally see them come to life - songs sort of breathe differently when played live in a space together with people in the room. After all the touring this year, I feel like the new songs have all settled in nicely now.

7. What's been the song from that album that's gotten the most interesting reaction on the road?

Hm...I think to me, the most interesting thing is how many people are gravitating towards Heavy Lifting being their favourite. It's the song that's the most dear to me for lots of different reasons (that you can learn about in my interview in the NME with Bernard Butler), but it's kind of magic that it seems to get through to people in a way I didn't really expect.

8. I love this entire record but I've got to ask you about 'Molecules'. Where does an idea for a song like that come from?

I watched a documentary and learnt that molecules react to sound. That blew my mind - those lyrics practically wrote themselves.

9. Half of the album's tracks received a music video on this album, if you could do one more, which would it be and why?

I really like this question...at first I thought maybe Delete Forget Repeat as it has quite specific, dark imagery that might be interesting to capture visually, but then I remembered that I was actually thinking about having London I Miss You as a single and started sketching out a music video idea for that. I just thought it would lend itself to shoot the video on a train and project different things out the window. Disclaimer: might actually still use that idea at some point, so you heard it here first kids.

10. It's been over a year since the release of 'You & Me, We Are The Same', what's next for Roxanne de Bastion? Do you already have songs for the next record?

You know, I'm still very much dining out on the fact that Iggy Pop likes the record...so what's next for me is listening to that little audio clip of him saying my name some more - that's definitely not gotten old yet. But yes, I am writing new songs and will slowly start plotting the next record. I still hope to tour more with this album next year though - we have a lot of catching up to do, don't we?

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Roxanne de Bastion’s ‘Live At St. Pancras Old Church’ is available to download and stream in all the usual places, with CD’s still available on her Bandcamp page, as well as previous albums and merchandise.

Celebrate 60 Years of ‘Please Please Me’ and ‘With The Beatles’ at the LEAF On Bold Street with Roxanne de Bastion and more!

For more information about Roxanne de Bastion, visit her official website.

Support Roxanne on Patreon for exclusive demo recordings, fan Q&A’s and live streams.

Follow Roxanne de Bastion on Facebook @roxannedebastion and on Instagram and Twitter @roxannemusic.

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