A three-band bill put together by Lost Map and 432 to launch the new Savage Mansion album, out the previous day, this was a great night of varied music.
BM missed the first couple of Martha Ffion tracks but the rest of the set was very good indeed, with front person/songwriter Claire McKay accompanying herself on guitar and piano, backed in the main by three fifths of the headliners on guitar, bass and drums. Most of the set is from the recent album ‘The Wringer’. The slightly country-esque stylings belie some quirkier edges, along with some self-reflective and complex lyrical concerns. The piano-led ‘The Wringer’ itself and ‘Nights To Forget’ (one of just a couple of older tracks played tonight) may or may not be autobiographical but they certainly have some dark corners. Think Scotland’s answer to The Cowboy Junkies (although Claire is actually from Ireland…). These wistful, slightly regret-filled numbers, sung so expressively, mark MF out as a real class act.
Next up were Mallet Space, an eight-piece ensemble, mainly students at Glasgow School of Art, sporting an array of instruments (there were three guitarists and the lead singer also played xylophone). The music was interesting, melodic mainly but with some wonky side-effects – the female vocals sounded mainly in the post-punk tradition of The Slits, with at least one rant about “mum and dad” (awful aren’t they?!) but in general this lot were an entertaining and interesting proposition – no releases as yet but they are getting gigs with several promoters and will now have come onto Lost Map’s radar so who know what will happen next?
‘The Shakes’ (all 11 tracks although not in order!) comprised most of what Savage Mansion played tonight but they also drew on their now fairly rich back catalogue tonight in certainly the longest set of theirs that BM has witnessed (19 tracks or thereabouts). The five piece opened with album track ‘Total Columbia’, Craig’s slightly American-accented delivery describing a slightly nightmarish situation and asking “what’s wrong with your eyes?”.
The set continued at a high pace, sometimes with no break between tracks and all members evidently enjoying the crowd reaction (the room was pretty full and soundman Ross gave them a fair welly especially in the lower registers). Interplay between mainman Craig Angus, his guitar hero (some squalling solos and riffage) foil Andrew Macpherson and the backline of Jamie Dubber and Lewis Orr, with keyboardist Adam Forbes providing a nice combination of piano and a bit of synth. Savage Mansion don’t really do slow songs but there are few more country-influenced numbers in the set like ‘The Second Life’, played late in the set. Title track and most recent single ‘The Shakes’ sounded booming, while other highlights for BM were ‘There Goes My Habit’ and oldie ‘Old Country’. It is fair to say that while they have some influences, nobody else quite sounds like this lot, and they continue to go forward on a very solid basis of good songwriting, inventive playing and a dynamic live performance. BM hopes to see more of them this year…