Much has been written about Thirteen Lost and Found, but this is, in a sense, the final word – the album launched, the interviews done, and aping RM Hubbert’s debut album title, the first and (probably) last performance of his sophmore album with full ensemble cast.
Understandable perhaps. Aside from “jetsetters” Stevie Jones and Luke Sutherland the album’s lineup is pretty much intact. The album boasts 11 tunews but the titular “Thirteen” refers to the collaborators with Hubbert on the release. And from the opening ‘Sunbeam Melts The Hour’ – Marion Kenny on dulcimer and Hanna Tuulikki on bizarre swooping vocals (think a Japanese-Finnish Lene Lovich), there’s a procession onstage of the famous(ish), and the cult hero. High points are a magnificent, brooding turn from Emma Pollock on ‘Half Light’, while Alisdair Roberts’ death ballad ‘The False Bride’ somehow goes beyond maudlin and comes out round the other side – after all, this is a celebration, and despite some of the themes, a joyous occasion.
Also present are Foxface’s John Ferguson on mandolin and a procession of other musicians, some from tonight’s rather avant-garde support Tattie Toes. And despite RM Hubbert’s well-documented struggle with depression, it’s a fun, good-natured set with banter aplenty from the former El Hombre Trajeado guitarist – seated stage right to allow his cohorts to take the limelight, but still very much the centre of attention.
The tongue-in-cheek hard sell actually backfires a little, in that the final exhortation that we buy an album on the way out prompts a young voice to pipe up “I’ll buy your album if you dedicate a song to me”. There then folows a short exchange, where Hubbert points out that only the dead (or canine) get dedications on his records. “That could be arranged” deadpans another audience member. The (non-dedicated) ‘Car Song’ is the climax in a sense – AIdan Moffat on top form as Hubby is, for three minutes, Malcolm Middleton, with the album’s producer Alex Kapranos making a cameo appearance on melodica.
Album ‘done’, aside from a London date with a subset of tonight’s cast, that could well be the last time that Hubby plays these songs in anything resembling this form. But with the solo material getting as much acclaim as those band pieces, an encore consisting of a couple of songs from his debut album suggests that there’s plenty more to come from this unique performer.