Live Reviews | 2013
|
15 April 2013
Americana-UK was invited to the deepest depths of the English countryside to catch the latest show of the European tour by Birds of Chicago and their friend Peter Mulvey. Where else are you going to go to see folks from Chicago, Milwaukee, Vancouver and...er....London (although drummer Will Waghorn has lived in California so that kind of fits) but the leafy lanes of an Oxfordshire village ensconced in a rural pub. You need a decent pint of proper beer (or three or seven – possibly more since those exact details are a little hazy) to properly enjoy your Americana music live experience we have found and mein host at the Brasenose Arms Allan Tattersall did us proud in this respect (we didn’t try the food but, y’know, it’s there if you want it and the menu looked nice). In fact the whole ambience of the place was rather wonderful - fortunate then in many ways that the mooted marquee in the garden didn’t take place due to the vagaries of the English spring (or is it summer or winter or what?) Instead the gig took place inside the bar – imagine your front room with the sofas moved to the edges and a tempting array of beer pumps – which could comfortably be described as ‘intimate’. Whilst the clientele were quaffing their introductory pints up popped Peter Mulvey – sometime Milwaukee resident and veteran of the road (and the recording studio with some 18 or 19 albums under his belt) to play an entertaining set of covers and originals. That a person with just a guitar and a voice and a pleasing attitude can command the affection and respect of an audience says something about the magical experience of the live gig. Long may it continue. And, tonight, continue it did. Mulvey is earning his money twice over on this tour since he also plays rhythm/support guitar for The Birds of Chicago. Oh and some backing vocals. And, let’s face it, what you want from the Birds is that vocal. Whilst they (Allison Russell and Jeremy Lindsay) are accomplished multi-instrumentalists – Allison can even whistle like a songbird never mind blow an oboe or pick a mandolin – it’s the voices that count. Individually they can hold a proverbial tune but together, well, its a transcendendant experience. On record (and Americana-UK has some form on this – search our CD reviews archive for the evidence) they are a marvel but live they induce symptoms analogous to Stendahls Syndrome. There are some seventeen songs in total in the set mostly from their titular new album (naturally) with the odd nod to previous releases. Of particular note is a new song – Kinderspel – which was written on this tour and is going to be a firm favourite with fans for a long time to come. Its not an exaggeration to say that it is the perfect showcase of the band’s talent – country/folk/soul played and sung with a beguiling mixture of passion and restraint. At the conclusion of the evening the band relaxed with the audience, chatting, hanging out, taking pictures...a great end to a great night.
Sometimes it takes me a little time to get things. Take Bells of Rhimney for example, it's taken me two decades to realise that it was a mining town in Wales and that's why Oysterband played it straight after Kay Sutcliffes Cole Not Dole. It didn't take me quite as long (just until Matt Myers sang "I took a drink in Lexington" from their penultimate track Comin' Round Again) to figure out why a band from Kentucky would be so looking forward to playing a North London pub called 'The Lexington'.
What a difference a venue makes - and it's hard to imagine how Robert Ellis was feeling. A couple of weeks ago he was competing with a rowdy Shepherds Bush crowd, as likely to be catching up at the bar as listening to the music. And now - the rapt and reverential attention of a virtually full regional theatre (which would be totally full for Richard Thompson). There's good applause for every song, but it's hard to break that spell of silence when trying to get a rapport going. I can only imagine it feels weird, although the rate at which he was selling CDs in the interval must have acted as some kind of reassurance. His half-hour set drew heavily from his album Photographs, and if we worried about his logistical ability in Two Cans Of Paint" - there's just no way he's going to paint three rooms with two cans of paint - there’s no doubting of his lyricist strength on the glorious separation song Westbound Train or the scathing Sing Along which again closed out the set. Still worth seeing.
Beards are in, they are very now, the mix of resident hardcore folkers it seems love them, but this largely student audience was very hirsute, the beard is back – including Mr Carter. The poster proclaims he is one of the best English finger picking guitarist around/of his generation or some such – can’t disagree, he is amazing. It is like watching liquid mercury being tipped over the fret board and strings, fluid, tuneful and very very pretty. His voice reminds me a lot of ‘Sir’ Ralph Mctell and the opening London song has a lot to thank him for. It’s the combination of great word play, fantastic guitar playing and a warm engaging bloke; it really is a great set, of great material. Pheasant has the great line about first falling in love, “your love flattens me, like a Pheasant on a country lane” we all know that feeling, and 3 songs in we have covered domestic violence, unrequited love and divorce, and somehow without being trite or a difficult listen.