Laki Mera / Keser
Bannermans (27/04/2006)
A busy night in the capital with Triptych taking over at least four of the main medium sized venues making it hard for anyone else to pull a non corporate generated crowd. Fringe of Triptych would be not too far off in describing this bill from two sides of the new music/experimental continuum. One band instrumental that rumbled and roared the other elemental with siren like vocals and a cello that soared…!!!
Keser totally instrumental, lap-top at the forestage, guitar and bass grooving around heads down swaying in constant motion with a euphoria its purpose. A cavernous sound that suggested elements of the Cocteau Twins on a crash course with Sigur Ros only no singing and with extra bass. Indeed if Edinburgh had an underground system a few folks might have been heading for cover if a twin beam of lights was to come heading out of the darkness, such was the rumble of the subsonic bass being generated from the far end of the archway. Keser’s album is winning them many friends on the electronica circuit, on this showing and in spite of the sound system more of us are beginning to understand why they are being lauded.
Sound systems have been a continual trial for Laki Mera, never ones to do things the easy way they have stripped back their sound by dropping the computers – allowing them to play more small shows. This has been a good move on two levels one they have added a much needed human element with added dynamics and two, more people will now get to hear this astonishing band as they plan to now gig as much as possible.
Opening with ‘She’s a Day Later’ the powerful and insistent rhythm dragged the crowd in from the adjoining bar. By song 3 a Goldfrapp-esque trashy version of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ – a risky move that paid off – Laura Donnelly, of truly beautiful voice, had the unfamiliar crowd right with her. Even as they slowed the pace mid set with the haunting ‘signals’, not the ideal soundtrack for midnight on a friday night in this former beirkeller, the appreciative audience to their credit stayed with it.
In the end they were rewarded by the double whammy of two outstanding tracks that finished off Laki Mera’s set. The first was ‘No Motion’, which has instant classic written all over it, in a perfect world this would be the track that gives this band the break they deserve. Writing the perfect pop song is not what you would expect from Laki Mera, who work in the folk-tronica idiom, in ‘No Motion’ they may have inadvertently come close.
The clincher on the night was ‘How Dare You?’, where this former lap-top led quintet almost rocked out. Almost because this band thrives on the tension between laying it all out on the line and pulling back just as things get too obvious. Their music is made up of moments of exquisite melodic purity on one hand and dark pulsing rhythms on the other. Clearly this was the first show for them without an electronic safety net as some mistakes were made in timing and pitch, however the signs look good for the future as this band starts to work out some of their inner demons and truly start to express themselves as a musical unit.
So Fringe of Triptych finished on high for one night only with two groups who won’t look out of place on the official fest next April – watch this space or this one or this one…!!!
itm? contributor
