Hari and Aino, Ace Bushy Striptease and David Leach Review- 7th Feb
When you first start playing in bands, you kind of imagine going on tours to be this wonderful thing of excitement. Yeah it’s never going to be the crazyrocknrollmoments that are suggested in the films and such, but at least more like a road trip.
Increasingly when ever I see a band’s schedule it strikes me as anything but, fitting around when promoters can run events creates a crazy energy sapping and tangled route map. Here’s Hari and Aino’s first four dates in AA route map format. Pretty noodly, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Luckily we got them here in Brum on the first day of their tour.
Firstly, huge thanks have to do to NRG of The Hysterical Shrieking Grief of Twats, for making and bringing some fantastic cakes for people to eat. The recipes are up on his blog and I have to recommend the Coffee and Oat Cake.
David Leech was up first with his uke. Like fellow Manchester based solo uke player Jam On Bread, David probably fits into the anti-folk category, if I was more certain what is kept in that category.
Sounds of the Forgotten Summer is introduced as everyone’s favourite song, and with it’s well placed synth backing, it is outstanding. I have to confess that my favourite was the set opener which has a bit of melody that seems to rattle round like Orange Juice interpreted through a Lancastrian voice.
One of the brilliant things about David is his extensive range of knitwear and his CDs come in impact resistant, scratch proof knitted pouches. If there’s one thing that’s going to slowdown the rise of MP3s and other music formats that you can’t put on shelves, then it’s going to be knitted CD sleeves.
I’m not sure how to describe Ace Bushy Striptease to you, though they’re a good example of the way that Birmingham indiepop influenced bands seem to find a harsher, louder, or more dynamic take on the genre (my sample size isn’t that large here admittedly).
Occasionally Ace Bushy Striptease can be shambly (good shambly) where they show you flashes of genius. Tonight and fully rehearsed they show us the band that they’ve been turning into over the last year or so – and it’s a good one. They didn’t put a foot wrong during the set I don’t think. Slow melodic burners like Flying Bayonets lull you into a false sense of security before erupting into guitars, and many of the songs employ similar mechanics. And occasionally shouting. Partially improvised ending Mervyn & Issac Find A CD is always fantastic, and it was revealed that the CD was Relationship of Command. So there you go. #popfact
Hari and Aino were always going to finish the night on a more pure pop note, where the two guitars layer on each other well to create a wall of jangle, accompanied by the Smithsy wandering bass. It’s the perfect backdrop for the melodies which just flow. It’s a cliché to declare a band “Summery” (although Dodgy made a decent career out of it) but they do conjure up those relaxing qualities in the same way that, say, The Lucksmiths do.
They’ve got a good sense of brevity too and seem to know the perfect place to end songs. It’s an important quality.
One crazyrocknrollmoment in the set where two bass strings broke at the same time. I’m fairly certain that’s never happened before in the long history of rock (or at least on YouTube which is the long history of rock’s most searchable approximation). Luckily Simon from Ace Bushy Striptease was on hand with his bass though.
And after a short DJ-ing section (which included a brief 2 record interlude by one of the Atta Girl DJs, but more on this later) that was the second Swedish February at Autumn Store.
One last thought - I am sorry if you came down and I didn’t get chance to say goodbye to you at the end, we were turfed out unexpectedly quarter of an hour earlier than usual and didn’t even get chance to finish playing the sweary Pains of Being Pure of Heart song that was on. Oh well.
