Ian McNabb – Camden Dingwalls – 8th November 2012

Dingwalls certainly looks very cosy for Ian McNabb’s return to the venue, with the dancefloor populated by tables with cloths and candles. The intention may be to disguise the fact that the crowd is a little sparse, certainly in comparison to previous occasions when Ian has played here with a band and the place has been rammed. No matter – it’s the non-attendees loss.

Tonight, armed with just his rich baritone and an acoustic guitar, Ian takes us on a tour of his not inconsiderable back catalogue. With a full beard and wearing glasses he has a slightly professorial bearing, which sort of suits him.

We get Hollow Horse, Great Dreams Of Heaven, and That’s Why I Believe before Ian says a word to the audience, and that’s just to thank Tracie Hunter who had previously entertained us with her bluesy torch songs. Ian has looked decidedly angry so far and has attacked his songs with a venom that Pete Townshend in his prime would’ve been proud of.

Ian loosens up after a glass of pinot grigio and before Little Girl Lost finally admits to enjoying himself! We get little in the way of new material tonight, with only two songs from the current album Little Episodes. The first song is High On A Hill which would appear to be an attack on Dave, George and their banker pals. We also get the title song of the album, which is a McNabb classic in waiting.

Those of us lucky enough to be in attendance get a masterclass in the art of the songwriter. It’s a pity there aren’t more of us here. Ian McNabb is criminally ignored these days. Give the guy your support. He deserves it and his music will enrich your life. 

Bat For Lashes – Brighton Dome – 4th November 2012

Tonight Natasha Khan makes a hotly anticipated return to her former adoptive home town of Brighton with Bat For Lashes. Support comes from her former bandmate Charlotte Hatherley’s new project Sylver Tongue. This is something of a departure for Charlotte as Sylver Tongue’s music is synth-heavy 80s electronica. However, as Charlotte takes the stage she wears her Gibson SG around her neck, which is a hopeful sign…

So it proves. The ‘electronica’ tag is a little lazy, as there is more to Sylver Tongue’s music than that. All of the musicians play percussion at some stage or other, belting out tribal rhythms that are a possible Bat For Lashes influence. The SG is much more than a prop and gets plenty of use. Additionally, the bass player is the first person I’ve seen play slap bass for about 25 years. The closing song Creatures is more guitar driven and is the best song of the set. This band is very much a ‘work in progress’ but shows plenty of promise. They’ll be a very interesting prospect as long as they don’t lose their sense of adventure.

A sense of adventure is certainly something that Natasha Khan doesn’t lack. Each of her albums (and her latest, The Haunted man is no exception) have provided an adventure for the ears and the intellect. Apparently, disappointed by the reception afforded to her previous album Two Suns, Natasha had considered giving up making music. Thankfully she decided against that particular course of action.

Tonight’s set begins with the opening track from the new album, Lillies. It would appear that most people here tonight have The Haunted Man, judging by the communal singing! This time around, the Bat For Lashes stage band is mostly male, which does give the performances a harder edge that they didn’t previously have. This seemingly rubs off on Natasha as she beats a syndrum with some gusto, and brandishes her drumstick like a weapon, which is a bit scary.

We’re on more familiar territory for the second song, What’s A Girl To Do? from the first album Fur And Gold. This song exhibits a frequent theme in Khan’s work: the dissection of one’s emotions. In the hands of some this could result in a degree of mushiness, but Natasha manages make her lyrics moving without descending into the realms of ‘chick lit’.

Glass from the under-rated Two Suns gives Natasha the opportunity to demonstrate how wonderful the upper reaches of her vocal range are, whilst Travelling Woman from the same album sees her seated behind an astonishingly elderly (but probably not) looking keyboard.

Natasha boogies to Oh Yeah from the new album, emphasising that anybody who thought her new ‘mature’ look meant that the playfulness had gone from her music should think again! We also get All Your Gold and Marilyn (featuring Natasha on theramin) from the new album.

Next up is “a really old one”: Horse And I from the first album. This is a particular favourite of mine with its driving keyboard (harpsichord?) riff. The horse theme is continued with Horses Of The Sun from the new album.

However, the highlight of the gig (and possibly of her ouvre) is the next song: Laura from the new album. Performed by Natasha on vocals and Ben Christophers on keyboards, this is extraordinarily emotional and moving, to the extent that Natasha sobs at the end when the song gets the rapturous reception that it deserves. I have a theory about this song – I suspect that Natasha may be singing about herself. It must be pretty galling when the Florence Welches of this world get so much more recognition. Whatever the thinking behind its composition, this song is a classic in waiting.

To follow this tour de force we get a song called Lumen, which didn’t make the album, followed by Trophy, Priscilla and A Wall. A Wall is a great anthem of optimism: 

                                 

                                 “Cause where you see a wall

                                   I see a door

                                  (We’re entering a brave new world)”

and appears to be sung to somebody who’s had a (hopefully) metaphorical bashing. It’s a very uplifting live track. The last song in the set is Pearl’s Dream, Pearl being Natasha’s blonde alter-ego from the Two Suns album.

The band are off-stage for the briefest of times before the encores. First off is the title track of the new album The Haunted Man, which Natasha accompanies with a particularly expressive and interpretative dance. Some of the vocals appear to come from an old radio which Natasha embraces at the end of the song. Bless. This is followed by a positively celebratory version of Daniel, after which the band are gone.

The beauty of a Bat For Lashes gig is that every last detail has been carefully considered, from the sonic delivery to the lamps that decorate the stage, to the cliff faces on the risers which echo the reference to the Sussex coast in Winter Fields on the new album. I have seen very few gigs that could be described as truly beautiful, but this was one of them.

   

Tame Impala – Brixton Academy – 30th October 2012

Tame Impala beam down to Brixton Academy for a gig so hotly anticipated that you could almost get high on the atmosphere alone. However, before we get too carried away a downer appears in the shape of Young Dreams from Norway.

Young Dreams are a bunch of Stone Roses wannabees who are really gutted that they were born too late to participate in the late 1980s baggy era. No matter – they’ll just pretend that it’s happening now! The vocals are at times appallingly off-key (sound familiar?) and the guitarist’s chops aren’t quite sufficient for what he’s trying to achieve. Much room for improvement.

After that, some kind of musical miracle is needed, and it’s at least partially delivered by The Amazing (terrible name – virtually begging for a critical kicking!). This lot have decided to be Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and they make a pretty good fist of it. The emphasis is very much on the ‘Young’ part of the above partnership, and the songs are almost worthy of young Neil himself, as are the lengthy guitar solos. A good effort.

Which brings us to Tame Impala, who are probably the most convincing proponents of psych rock since the 1970s heyday of Hawkwind, or possibly Secret Machines around the time of their first album. They certainly seem to mean it maaaaan, but what is it precisely that they mean? A listen to current album Lonerism would seem to suggest that main Impala Kevin Parker is drowning in a sea of weed induced paranoia.

The setlist is slightly weighted in favour of Lonerism (6 from Innerspeaker, 7 from Lonerism) and it’s a pretty flawless gig. They’re possibly not the most engaging band visually, but frankly they don’t need to be. The music is more than capable of taking you somewhere else entirely, and the doodly green laser backdrop only helps. It Is Not Meant To Be and Lucidity rock like riff-driven muthas and Elephant lumbers and lurches like a lumbery lurchy thing. As a reward for being good we get an encore of Half Full Glass Of Wine from the first EP. If the song had been on Lonerism the glass would have been half empty.

Jack Savoretti – Guildford Boileroom – 27th October 2012

Saturday night in Guildford brings a potential feast of the singer/songwriter’s craft. Hors d’oeuvres are provided by Karima Francis, whose exquisite songcraft is well received by the Guildford crowd.

The main course is Jack Savoretti and his band, a pleasingly cohesive unit with none of the stand-offishness often displayed by band leaders towards their sidemen. To their credit, this band are far more than backing musicians.

Jack is here to promote his current album, Before The Storm, which is a good thing as it is a far more percussive collection than his previous effort (Harder Than Easy) which tended to sag in the middle somewhat. A Jack Savoretti gig is very much a late 1960s / early 1970s singer/songwriter experience, with Jack’s voice swinging between James Taylor and a rather gravelly Cat Stevens. Most songs are played with the band and have the feel of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo era Byrds coupled with early Eagles. Jack plays a few songs solo displaying some pleasingly accomplished finger-picking, the band returning for a storming cover of Ring Of Fire.

Jack Savoretti isn’t doing anything new, or indeed overly inventive, but as a live act he and his band are a very good night out.     

Sparks – London Barbican – 26th October 2012

Immediately that we take our seats the stage set emphasises precisely what we’re going to get on Sparks’ Two Hands One Voice tour, as it consists of one keyboard and one microphone stand, each illuminated by a solitary spotlight.

Ron Mael takes the stage and plays an overture consisting of snippets of some of Sparks’ finer moments (the intro to This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us elicits a particularly loud cheer). Ron’s brother Russell joins him dressed in a black shirt, sports jacket, three-quarter length trousers, striped socks and black shoes, looking for all the world like a 1930s all-American college boy.

The first song, Metaphor from Hello Young Lovers proves from the start that Sparks don’t miss having a full band on stage with them. Indeed, the lack of a band highlights the quality of the songs, and allows the lyrics in particular greater prominence than they may otherwise have had. 

The set list appears to have been carefully chosen from across the band’s catalogue. The hits are there, and their more successful albums from recent years (Li’l Beethoven and Hello Young Lovers) are represented by a couple of songs apiece. There is a selection of excerpts from The Seduction Of Ingmar Bergman (together with the announcement that that particular work is to become a stage show and a feature film). More surprisingly they include the 1975 US-only b-side The Wedding Of Jacqueline Kennedy To Russell Mael, complete with a mime of the marriage ceremony from Russell! 

In many ways this particular choice underlines Sparks’ appeal. Their songs are intelligent both in terms of music and lyrics, but playfulness and humour is never very far away. In some ways the performance tonight was reminiscent of Weimar Republic era cabaret, both in terms of the sometimes quasi-operatic melodies, and in the presentation of the performance. As is customary, Ronald stayed behind his keyboards (apart from during encore Beat The Clock when he came out to dance enthusiastically, stripping to the waist in the process…..) whilst Russell inhabited the whole of the stage; dancing, pacing, skipping.

This was a bravely pared down performance that only enhanced the songs delivered. Thankfully it had none of the po-faced reverence of the 1990s MTV unplugged sessions. The Mael brothers appeared to enjoy the performance as much as the audience. My only complaint was that the gig couldn’t have been a couple of hours longer! Still, can’t have everything…..