Another highly original gig at the Old Hair, one of BM’s favourite venues…
First up before this pretty packed crowd (ok in the Old Hair that is around 70 or 80 people…) was Bamya, a combo not previously known to BM, based in Scotland but hailing from various other places, even Edinburgh!
There is not a lot of info about this lot online so BM will just go with what she saw and heard. A three piece of two girls (on guitars) and one guy (on drums), but they do a bit of swapping during the set. Around ten songs of fairly minimalist (some would say post-punk but let us just leave it) plucking and twin attacks, the drums very loud and primal. There is some singing (by both girls) at times and at times they speed up to make a fair racket.
BM is minded of Sonic Youth in the atonal and angular playing, plus some other local DIY outfits (Vital Idles maybe). It sounds great, perhaps a little nervous but they have nothing to be worried about. There is a cassette release (!) and song titles introduced included “‘Bathroom Conversation’ and possibly ‘I Was Chosen’. Some of the lyrics are in possibly Italian or Greek but some in English. This was hugely enjoyable and BM hope to see them again soon.
The headliners are a joint project of Ana Da Silva (formerly of The Raincoats) and Japanese artist Phew, straight outta Kawasaki. They collaborated online and released an album ‘Island’ last year, and here they are to play tracks from it live. Sitting opposite each other with various bits of tech and laptops, they cook up some electronic ambience but with some very eccentric features.
Tracks are laced with sampled vocals, electronic percussion, washes and other effects – sounding a bit like Tangerine Dream vs Blanck Mass with some Underworld thrown in. The soundmix is great as ever at the Old Hair and the audience is fairly rooted to the spot. There are bleepy tracks like ‘Stay Away’ and some glitchy goings-on with ‘Here To There’.
All in all a great pairing – and with the inestimable Stephen Pastel DJ-in before and between the acts, you could say the same about the Old Hair and Monorail.