‘Support’ slots are often more, or less that. An attempt to bring in bodies, or fill the gap, it’s often a hiding to nothing to win a crowd over – especially when that crowd is firmly committed to the main act. 
So Swimmer One are up against it – not only is Ultravox founder and electro pioneer John Foxx a legend attracting a devoted and largely 30-something crowd, he is playing in its entireity his reissued debut solo album Metamatic.
Happily for the Glasgow / Edinburgh duo, they win round the crowd quickly. It’s unclear whether this is via their tunes – much more easy-on-the-ear than much of Foxx’s output – or the simple fact that they – apparently unknowingly – named themselves after a Foxx b-side. Either way, the coastal ramble of ‘Largs Hum’ and undisputable pop genius of ‘We Just Make Music For Ourselves’ win over the audience and generate a very enthusiastic response.
But everyone is here to see John Foxx and relive their eyeliner-stained memories from that curious era, where New Romanticism was on the rise, and where Foxx himself somehow failed to commercially capitalise on the upcoming electro boom (see interview)
Starkly lit and with Lewis Gordon aiding and abetting, he works his way through the album, soundscaping his way through one of the seminal UK takes on Krautrock. ‘Glimmer’ and ‘Underpass’ are of course aired – the album is played in its original order, after all – though ‘No-one Driving’ is a decided highpoint. With the album’s sound also recreated pretty faithfully and Foxx shrouded in mist with just the occasional audience interaction, it’s a slightly curious experience. But to hear one of the greats playing one of the seminal recordings in its genre, it’s a little bit of history.
more photos at itm?’s flickr page
