Cruiser / Persil / Ono Palindromes
Greenside Hotel, Leslie (Saturday 24th October)
If there’s one thing that this Glenrothes venue can’t be accused of, it’s a lack of diversity or ambition in its bookings. 
The night before the show by rising Canadian TV stars Carmen and Camille, they welcomed acts from Exeter, Amsterdam, and… Dunfermline.
English three-piece Ono Palindromes opened, and assailed the audience with flailing guitars and precise rhythms, an assault of Sonic Youth proportions.
Dutch duo Persil are veterans of three sessions for DJ John Peel, and have opened for Blondie in an arena in their home country, but their charming electronic pop is ideal for a club like the Greenside. With no album due until next year, they tried out some new material on the Fife crowd, but it was old favourite ‘Light Up My Life’ which really got the audience moving.
From rather closer to home, Cruiser have been making up for lost time. Following a hiatus of six years and many lineup changes, their second album ‘happyrobots…’ has finally appeared and the band recently relaunched themselves with a hometown Carnegie Hall show. Since then, a Radio One Single of the Week with ‘A Gentle Press’ and an album of remixes by the likes of Luke Solomon and Kid Carpet has seen them re-enter the public eye. Saturday night’s set was more synthpop, the twin female vocals picking out the pop melodies perfectly over a backing of eight-bit electro and noisy guitar. Like the venue itself, Cruiser seem to be a band going places.
(this review originally appeared in the Glenrothes Gazette)
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
Stuart McHugh
