Another Edinburgh gig, another tea-time start thanks to `some pishy club` as Craig B later terms the reason for the show`s early start, so we barely catch 5 Day Hemingway`s final squalls of feedback – though it`s clear that the Edinburgh band have cranked up the volume to match the noise of their hosts for the night. Happily, their strong powerpop tune (singular) still shines through.
But an Aereogramme show needs some kind of `warm-up` act – if only to break the ears in, allowing the crowd to become accustomed to the sonic trials ahead. Though it is possible to overdo things – especially with Aereogramme`s at-times delicate almost acoustic touches, and their current direction into more layered, textured cinematic themes.
DeSalvo are the band charged with our indoctrination to the darker forms of rock. Our guide, Phil, beckons the audience to fill the space between bar and stage. Surprisingly, they comply. Surprisingly because he is dressed like a cook – complete with what looks like a butcher`s apron. WIth a pig`s nose. And a chef`s head (not a description of the singer, the head is `detached` – and probably fake, but who can say for sure?)
As it happens, there`s no escape from the visceral, ear-shredding tunes – with guitars which sound like some sort of flesh-rendering machine, and a rhythm section which provides the backbone for what must be the tightest rock band in Scotland, their precise tunes (and I use the term advisedly) possibly classifiable as math metal. But Phil (his name confirmed, his `Philthy` tattoo revealed as he strips off his apron) terrorises the audience, striding around bellowing into a megaphone, and the time he spends on stage is spent humping one of the monitors.
Aereogramme, even given their status as bearded rock behemoths, are more hirsute than usual – apart from Craig B whose coiffure is tidily trimmed (he is, as is revealed later, “available”). There`s also a full five in the band now, each hairier than the last (Martin from Julia Thirteen is now providing guitar, keyboards, and additional screaming).
And you can hear why as they`ve made serious attempts to play album My Heart Has a Wish as `live` as possible, so pretty much the only samples are those curious little vignettes which link the tracks – and provide the band the chance to tune up, change instruments (because they can`t afford roadies), and mop sweat. The new album – which they drawn heavily from – has its darker elements; indeed the title is a line from The Exorcist – but it`s the back catalogue which puts elements of the crowd into serious headbanging mode, including a frenetic `Shouting For Joey` and a version of `Wood` which enlists the band`s newest member to provide the screaming which we presume put Craig B`s voice out of action for 6 months.
However, the new material more than stands up alongside the older, crowd-pleasing numbers – from the initial strains of `Conscious Life`, akin to being trapped in some kind of sonic wind tunnel, to the fragile, fractured `Barriers`; the processed sounds in `Nightmares` which seem to warp the internal organs; and `Life Worth Living` which following its delicate start self-flagellates itself into an explosive mid-section which threatens to lay waste to the audience`s hearing. Somehow, I think that De Salvo would have approved.