GIG REVIEWS
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GIG REVIEWS |
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Malcolm Middleton
@ Leeds Cockpit 27.03.08 www.vanguard-online.co.uk Malcom Middleton was able to have a chat with us before the gig and his comments helped us get a bit of insight into his work. He’s not an inaccessible artist, by any means, working heart-on-sleeve. He writes as it comes and assembled the last album bit by bit as he wrote a few more songs. He’s at pains to point out that it isn’t a set of leftovers. Although he was called a multi-instrumentalist in Arab Strap, that just meant he played a little piano as well as guitar – he doesn’t even know piano chords, so he’s avoided self-obsession through multi-tracking and keeps things fresh through working with other musicians. It feels like a prolific year for Malcolm – he’s just released an album just a year after the last. He doesn’t see it that way – he just writes as it comes and, as he says, “if you said the album had to be done by this date, I couldn’t”. Still, here he is in Leeds and most of the hour-plus set was released in the last twelve months or so. He’s been enjoying the tour, he says – it’s acoustic, which means not too much to lug around and he gets to work with double bass and violin. It’s a lovely sound, with deep, tuneful bass and sometimes sweeping melancholy violin breaks like The Willard Grant Conspiracy. The between-set John Denver stops and Malcolm tunes up a bit then sits quietly. “I’m just waiting for the conversation to stop”, he says, before introducing the band – “This is Stevie and Jenny; Stevie and Jenny – Leeds”. A Brighter Beat opens proceedings; “we’re an army, round the country, stuck in our rooms”. And the crowd is a motley crew of gentle-looking thoughtful types (excluding the ever-present and ever-noisy Mickey P. Kerr). Most of the rest of the set is drawn from that album or the most recent one, meaning we get a few covers too, like Madonna’s Stay, made into a sad trawl (as he says: “And now some classic 80s pop!”). A lot of people had told Malcolm that Follow Robin Down didn’t belong on the album but he really likes it and, live, it proves to be equally miserable and memorable. The miserable reputation he has builds from songs like this and Malcolm writing his own press releases in a laconic and self-deprecating way. After a few songs he asks; “is that okay, can I go?” We are warming to him and enjoying the gentle rise and fall of the percussionless acoustic trio (“hang about, our drummer will turn up soon……”). His voice is not so polished as on disc but the threesome is hypnotic in effect. His lyrics are clear enough and it is all delivered much the same as the albums with no big surprises, just the pleasant feeling of being in a room full of fellow gloomy introverts on a night out together! The few new songs go down well and are accessible straight away, Red Travelling Socks being memorable, as are the covers - King Creosote’s Margarita Red standing out particularly. The whole thing takes a few songs to grab hold but becomes a lovely warm evening in excellent company. No bluster, no bullshit, just a sense of authenticity and craft. Although Malcolm says his worst gig was at a seated venue (Cardiff’s Glee Club), I reckon a quiet focus would be only enhanced by holding the gig in a quiet club with comfy chairs. Nice one for the ginger geezer. |