Miscellaneous - Liverpool, 17/5/2012...19/5/2012

  by Richard Lewis

published: 23 / 6 / 2012

intro

Richard Lewis at the three day Liverpool Sound City festival enjoys sets amongst others from Mystery Jets, Dan Croll, Willis Earl Beal and James Vincent McMorrow

After the loss of the Static Gallery and Mojo as live music venues and the multi-roomed the Masque shutting its doors, Liverpool Sound City 2012 sees several new spaces being pressed into service to fill the void. The vast Academy of Arts, situated in the central hub of Wolstenholme Square makes its LSC debut via a high profile booking of Mystery Jets on day one. Despite beginning their set in the (fading) daylight at 8p.m., the band’s early doors’ appearance pulls in a bumper crowd. An act more accustomed to playing later slots as headliners, the gig seemingly serves as first port of call for many of the festival’s attendees before they set off elsewhere. A pop group operating just outside of the mainstream, the lack of commercial pressure on the ‘Jets to endlessly repeat the same formula sees the group scanning all manner of genres to winning effect. After making their way from Syd-era Floyd whimsy on their debut LP via the shiny electropop of ‘Twenty One’ four years ago onto widescreen US rock on new LP ‘Radlands’, the band never lose the melodic thread that connects all their best work. The cheekily titled ‘Greatest Hits’ from the new disc parcels up all the best bits of the group’s output while singer Blaine Harrison proves to be an engaging frontman, his voice cutting through the occasionally muddy sound effectively. Understandably keen to plug the new album the majority of which sounds none-too-shabby, the band also dispatch the crowd pleasers. ‘Young Love’ and ‘Two Doors Down’ both go down a storm, the latter surely one of the best songs of the last decade, which in a parallel universe probably soundtracks John Hughes’ great lost film. Switching from eccentric British indie pop to angst-ridden 21st Century soul, The Zanzibar’s limited capacity is unsurprisingly reached before Willis Earl Beal plays a note. Via his appearance on ‘Later…’ several weeks previously and excellent press for his live shows, the venue is rammed full and pin-drop silent for the soul/bluesman’s set. Possessed of a larynx powerful enough to have turned in the set minus vocal PA, the venue’s low stage proves to be an advantage to the man’s mystique as people crane to see him as he steps up to prowl around the stage mid-song. With only the eleven tracks of debut LP ‘Acousmatic Sorcery’ to draw from, the title goes some way to describing the man’s modus operandi, the sparse guitar strums, all-expenses spared drum machine and dazzling performance approaching something not too far removed from sorcery. Like fellow contemporary Dan Croll (more of whom later), who he currently plays keys for, Jethro Fox deals in the same acoustic guitars and harmonies approach. In the brightly-lit, full to capacity surroundings of renovated Georgian town house, The Wolstenholme Creative Space, Fox packs out what was once presumably the living room with a highly partisan crowd who already seem to know the words to his songs. ‘Echo’ proves to be the jewel at the centre of the set, the five-piece band gliding through its blissfully simple pop made indelible by Fox’s vocal melody. A confident display all-round, the songwriter’s fledgling career (he only made his live debut back in April) looks set to be one well worth paying close attention to. Held in check on Thursday, Friday sees a pall thrown over proceedings slightly as the weather decidedly takes a turn for the worst. The welcoming glow of Bold St. Coffee in the company of Spring Offensive seems especially inviting. The rising Oxford folk/acoustic quintet pack out the compact surroundings and turn in a stunning, animated performance playing ‘in the round’ in the centre of the audience. Eyeball to eyeball with the crowd throughout, the band are well-versed in the practice following their mid-set unplugged slot during gigs when they step off the stage and out onto the floor. Making its Sound City debut as a gig space, the band stamping their feet on the wooden floorboards of the Coffee House provide much of the set’s rhythm. The intimate setting accentuates the songs’ atmosphere brilliantly with lead singer LucasWhitworth in excellent form, his voice leading from the front. The audience explodes into applause after each track, reaching a pinnacle on ‘Carrier’ as the five-piece’s perfect harmonies wash over the assembled crowd. Over at The Leaf Café, Mancunian diviners of electronica/rock Patterns gamely wade into their set upstairs in front of a depleted audience. Michael Kiwanuka reaping the benefits from the venues being closely located near one another as he plays to a packed house over at The Epstein. A mélange of sounds recent and classic from their home city, Delphic, Everything Everything, New Order et al, the quartet ratchet the guitars up in the mix to provide more of a serrated edge. New single ‘Blood’ shores up the praise that has been sent the band’s way, the track a compelling assemblage of their strongest elements. Flanked by visuals with scrolling back projections and swirling lights, the band possibly need slightly longer on the gig circuit before they can match the quality of their recorded output. New to Sound City, the recently revived Neptune Theatre, renamed The Epstein plays host to Liverpool alumnus Dan Croll. Bravely opening the set with one of his strongest tunes ‘Marion’, the delicate accordion led waltz is superbly played, instantly winning over the packed house. Croll’s confidence proves to be well-founded as, despite setting the bar vertiginously high at the onset of the show, the band leap over it with consummate ease. Imminent debut single ‘From Nowhere’ is suitably the poppiest track Croll has penned so far while ‘Norwegian Wood’ (no, not that one) sways along beautifully, bearing hallmarks of Bon Iver’s rustic influence. Leading the incredibly well-drilled group in charismatically relaxed style throughout, the songwriter takes in some well-received banter with guitarist Joe Wills. Movingly dedicated to Joe’s recently passed mother, the show concludes with a stunning rendition of pop song/mini tripartite symphony ‘Home’. Building from its acoustic guitar arpeggio, accelerating in tempo on to its thunderous coda and endlessly spiraling African harmonies, the track completes the set in supreme style. Reminiscent of Brian Wilson’s exquisitely arranged ‘Pet Sounds’-era ‘pocket symphonies’, the song proves Croll already possesses the ability to write his own. After such a dazzling performance the songwriter’s set at next year’s event looks likely to take place in front of double the audience. Quickly sprinting over to the upper floor of The Leaf Café sees Sweet Lights opening his debut Liverpool show. As former co-conspirators Adam Granduciel and Kurt Vile experienced an amazing 2011, Shai Halperin, undoubtedly deserves an equivalent twelve months this lunar cycle. As part of the Philadelphian talent pool that produced his erstwhile colleagues, Halperin’s material understandably treads similar ground to TWOD and Vile’s solo work. Eschewing the dense, tumbling drones that dominate both, Halperin focuses in on something more delicate and lyrically personal. Striking out to go solo after a decade at the helm of the much-fancied indie rockers Capitol Lights, the set is powered solely by Halperin minus band. Throwing his songwriting into stark relief works wonders however, as playing to a quiet but not desolate crowd, he wins plenty over to his cause. Embellishing his understated but fully-realised songs with simple drum patterns and backing vocals generated by FX boxes alongside him, the DIY approach gives his set an endearingly lo-fi feel. The chugging tempo of the Tom Petty-esque ‘Endless Town’ and the iridescent, self-explanatory ‘The Ballad of Kurt Vile #2’ are just two highlights in a show crammed full with them. With a host of new listeners on board, his return visit is more than eagerly awaited. Standing room only prior to his entrance onstage at the Epstein Theatre amply demonstrates how big a draw James Vincent McMorrow is. Aside from possibly needing a few extra seats, the venerable theatre proves to be the perfect setting for the Dubliner, showing off the full extent of his voice and extensive backing band. Best witnessed in seated surroundings, a buzzing sound from a recalcitrant onstage monitor that persists for much of the set proves to be the only fly in the ointment. The auditorium falls completely silent for McMorrow’s famed, minimalistic reading of Steve Winwood’s ‘Higher Love’, played solo. Vastly improving on the original track McMorrow gives greater meaning to the lyrics, the bare-bones arrangement thoroughly cleansing the song of its dated eighties production sheen. With McMorrow’s debut album ‘Early in the Morning’ now over a year old, ‘We Don’t Eat’ has practically become a standard and is thunderously received. Displaying a nice line in witty self deprecation over his piano occasionally cutting out, McMorrow holds the audience’s undivided attention throughout. Although the music on offer maybe resolutely downbeat and intimate, McMorrow concludes his set to applause as loud as any major headlining acts on the festival’s final night. The photographs of Mystery Jets and Dan Crolla that accompany this article were taken by Marie Hazelwood.

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