Side project? Solo effort? The same question could be asked about both of tonight’s acts – the headliners a (partly) instrumental effort from Malcolm Middleton, but similarly, the former-former mainman of De Rosa, Martin (John) Henry, is in solo mode – performing both material from his album and songs written with his now (and then) bandmates.
What’s obvious from his short set is that whether on his own or with a full band, his material, buy dint of such slick songwriting, always works – ‘I Love Map’ the most acoustic and obvious candidate for solo set selection, but ‘New Lanark’ from the back catalogue works equally well. Paul Mellon (formerly guitarist in Fuck Off Machete) is also part of tonight’s headliner, but joins the support to flesh out a couple of the tunes. Biggest surprise is a tremendous cover of Kate Bush’s ‘Army Dreamers’ while closer ‘Under The Stairs’ morphs into a full-on folky stomper that goes down the proverbial storm.
When Henry’s not onstage himself or with De Rosa, he is one quarter of Human Don’t Be Angry – as previously stated, this is what Malcolm Middleton does in his spare time. Henry’s centre stage again, on bass and vocals, while the former Arab Strap man takes up position on the left, along with the laptop and other equipment necessary for transforming a set of songs which was, early days, described variously as ‘electronic’ and ‘instrumental’.
Neither term is wholly accurate – that would better fit the Vangelis tune which acts as their walk-on music – though the opening salvo of three tunes pretty much merged together seems to set the stall for an intense and brooding live experience. It’s not quite Mogwai, but closer to post-rock than Middleton’s largely one-man-and-his-guitar solo shows.
As it turns out, it’s a varied set, as you’d expect from the self-titled album from which most of tonight’s set is taken. ‘1985’ stands out, a insistent vocal reminiscent of the looped sample on Laurie Anderson’s ‘O Superman’. With the band in darkness, smoke billowing, the tone is dark and smoky, with the “funky shit” bass that Henry earlier promised coming to the fore.
Vocals are at a premium given that ‘H.D.B.A. Theme’ is also, apart from its sample, instrumental. Even the non-album track ‘Dreamer’ has a main chorus consisting of the phrase “Da-da-da” as the song lurches between fast and slow and leaves this listener unsure as to whether it’s any good or not. “I think that’s shit,” the singer remarks at the song’s close.
‘Getting Better (at Feeling Shit)’ should be a vehicle for full-on self-deprecation, but it’s, again, a lyric-free, ambient guitar effort. And while this is fine and mightily impressive in places, the preponderance of non-vocal tunes means that certain elements of the audience see this as an excuse to chatter loudly throughout.
But, in the main, the sizeable contingent of real fans are quite familiar with this handy adjunct to Middleton’s more conventional work. Long may he continue to surprise us.