Having the missing uke replaced by a second guitar, coupled with Elizabeth sounding more like Kirsty McColl  than ever is, however, more than adequate consolation for those disturbed by the initial discovery.

‘Capricornia’ is our first permitted peep over the wall into the hallowed garden of the second album or, as I understand that we’re legally required to refer to it, the long-awaited/much-anticipated second album, and it duly delivers on the areas that you’d hope and expect it to. Driving bass – check. Solid drumming – check. Bouncability – check. Catchy tune – check. Fab guitar building to a crescendo – che… hold on, where’s the classic Rains guitar build up? Where’s the bit where he takes it all up a notch lifting the track to another level? Hmm, it all sounds a bit too polished, a bit too professional, very, dare I say it, radio-friendly? Or is that just my natural paranoia creeping in?

I still like it a hell of a lot though and it’s unmistakably Allo Darlin rocking out – I suppose it’s just taking me a while to get used to the way it feels compared to past efforts. The second album, you may be reassured to hear, is still as keenly looked forward to as ever, at least in these quarters anwyay.

You can buy the new single from your usual supplier of fine pop tunes. Oh, and it’s backed with the rather lovely ‘Tallulah’ as well. A great heart-rending track only previously available on the Hangover Lounge EP.

But can they play. Third album Helping Hands exceeds even the expectations raised by critical acclaim for their first two albums and they effortlessly, beautifully evoke it, without fanfare. Cello, as a lead instrument is a rarity in indie circles but it just seems right and is beautifully underscored by Viola. A shifting backdrop of understated guitars, bass and keyboards creates mood and variety, whilst the beautiful voice of John Blain Hunt picks out the lyrics.

A more self effacing frontman I struggle to bring to mind. Shyness, painfully observed, for songs which cry out to be played live; on listening to the album again, it does not quite capture the beauty evoked by live performance, carefully orchestrated changes of tempo communicated by soundless counting in or a quiet nod, it all seems meticulously rehearsed. I was captivated but this is plainly not everybody’s cup of tea.

Highlights of the set included “The day our voices broke“- available as a free download at present, and, “I am the butcher”, a skiffle tinged country number , a lush sound created by six string instruments knitted together by deliberate drumming.

An hour or so and it was all over. This was powerful, yet subtle stuff. The sheer craft on display is awe inspiring, wonderful music in an idiosyncratic setting made for a very different live music experience.

Earlier, support was provided by Darren Hayman, playing songs from The Ship’s Piano on a baby grand, accompanied by only spare and plaintive trumpet. Perhaps hampered by my lack of  familiarity with the material this was interesting rather than compelling stuff. but delivered with commitment and wit. A fitting support to what was to come later.

All in all, an evening of intelligent, moving pop.

Picture of Pulp

Britpop has been retired for some 15 summers now. It showered itself in glory for two bright years but the fame became too powerful and Britpop eventually swallowed itself whole, omitting the painful stench of excessive flatulence as it went.

However, sat slippered and bloated in its easy armchair, it can look back with pride on some of the cheeky scamps it spawned; mouthy chancers who could write glorious pop songs with verve and wit. And at the heart of that family is the bastard child called Pulp. The gangly, gawky interloper who finally found a home and friends in the mid 90s. But for Pulp, the story had begun long, long ago.

Three is not the magic number for Pulp. The band’s fourth album, His ‘n Hers, finally propelled them from the wings where they’d waited for 16 years. Most bands would have given up long before. But then most bands don’t have a Jarvis Cocker at their heart. And Jarvis Cocker’s strange and beguiling heart beats throughout the band’s first three albums.

Perhaps in light of Pulp’s recent comeback, Fire Records has decided to reissue the band’s early back catalogue: It (1983), Freaks (1987) and Separations (1992). Some of the tracks previously appeared on Countdown: 1992-1983, which Cocker compared to a “garish old family photo album” on its release and urged fans not to waste their money.

Like the awkward teenager, whose skin is too taunt for misplaced bones, Pulp needed time to grow into themselves. So it’s fair to say that, on their own, neither of these reissues is a pop classic. But then it can be fun flicking through old photo albums.

It is a collection of folky, whimsical portraits, all summer haze in the daisy parks. Cocker’s love of Scott Walker shines through on tracks like My Lighthouse and Wishful Thinking. And there are vocal mirrors reflecting the inflections of Morrissy. The acoustic arrangements are sparse and the lyrical honesty is a world-apart from the word-played wit that became Cocker’s calling card.

Jump forward four years to 1987 and Cocker has collected a new set of musicians, including Russell Senior, who would become an integral part of the band. Senior expanded Pulp’s sonic range, giving Cocker the scope to travel through darker landscapes. On Freaks his voice has changed, from the earnest wonderings on It, to a brooding, half-spoken, half-sung delivery, telling tales on the seedier underbelly of suburbia. The album is a midnight fairground ride, ringing with carnival chords borrowed from The Doors and an art-school ethic straight from the Velvet Underground.

By the time Separations was released in 1992, three years after it was recorded, Pulp already had pop gems including Babies and Lipgloss in their set. The album can’t match the band’s evolving songwriting skills and it never quite reaches the claustrophobic heights of Freaks. However, the first half showcases Cocker’s growing confidence and lyrical mischief: Don’t You Want Me Anymore contains the fantastic line “I’ve never seen you look as ugly as you did that night”. The second side of the album is an experiment with acid house stylings. It never quite works but did spawn the brooding frustrations of My Legendary Girlfriend.

Pulp fans will lap up the reissues. However, the albums are also well worth exploring on their own terms, especially Freaks. They contain all of the pieces that Pulp would eventually meld together; humour, pop-eared radars, delicious hooks and a kitchen sink disposition. Some bands were born and died within the confines of Britpop. Pulp were much too smart to implode. Their roots stretch back to 1978 and the strange teenage visions of Jarvis Cocker. Exploring those visions across a changing landscape is time and money well spent. All three albums have been remastered and repackaged and come complete with bonus tracks and liner notes from Everett True.

Field Music

It seems nobody is ever indifferent to Field Music. Fans of their distinctive albums and joyful yet precise live shows love their intricate melodies and unusual time signatures, but to others they are just pretentious pseuds. The way the brothers Brewis grin at each other as they roam a stage swapping instruments can be mistaken for them being too pleased with themselves – I think they just love what they do. Dismissing them, and leaving before the end, my friend quipped that they might write a musical next…..

Perhaps with Plumb they have:

From the opening bars of “Start the day right” there is a whiff of musical theatre about this album. Close your eyes and you can see the Brewis boys arms outstretched West End musical style. But this is not a big departure, if  you didnt like the 3 albums released since they formed in 2004, you wont  like this. It is unmistakeably, brilliantly Field Music.

2nd track “Its OK to change”(of course they havent) has a signature nagging baseline and fades to an eerie sound of running water at the end which bleeds into “Sorry again mate”, mournful tuba and the usual close harmonies. Church bells on “A new town” add to the  eerie mood but this track is just an interlude really. Such slivers of music are a feature of the record creating atmoosphere(and explaining why an album shy of 40 minutes has 15 tracks.

The middle stretches of the album are characterised by more prominent guitars, bigger chords and piano such as on “Choosing sides”

“Who’ll pay the bills” is classic Field Music reminiscent of XTC, an easy comparison but they are no mere copyists, lush strings and orchestration on “So long then” is inimitably them. as is the beautiful mournful vocal interlude of “How many more times” in which they enquire solemnly, how many more times will you see the moon?

This is expansive ambitious music which repays repeated listening, there are fewer obvious pop singles than on earlier albums but “A new thing”, available pre release as a free download on the website is a contender, closing the Album on an upbeat note. My favourite though is ” Just like everyone else”(one thing you cant say about Field Music who are  quite unique) a trademark nagging bassline and insistent drumbeat which put me in mind of Secret Machines masterpiece “What used to be French”

This is a wonderful record- Classic Field Music, the same but different to what they have done before. If you like it look out for Brewis solo efforts; David released “Sea from shore” under the name School of Language in 2008 and Peter released an album under the name “The week that was“  the same year

This year, a new Peter Brewis solo work “One copy” can only be heard at The Lauriston Gallery in Sale(until January 17th), because there is only one copy…………now maybe that is a little bit pretentious?

Field Music release new album ‘Plumb‘ on the 13th of February on Memphis Industries.

First on tonight were a new band, Fever Dream, who played to around twenty people or so. A three-piece adopting the classic 1-1-1 formation of bass/drums/guitar. While the whole band are probably fans of  the Joy Division/Echo and the Bunnymen post-punk style, I think it’s fair to say that the singer/guitarist has heard the occasional showgaze record,  The simple bass/drum backing allowing him to unleash the full range of on-stage antics. If he could summon up this amount of effort and drive for such a volumetrically-challenged crowd, I wondered what he’d get up to if it was packed.

The overall feel of their sound was one of something vaguely dark and angst-ridden. An impression that was somewhat undermined by an altogether too chipper sounding ‘Thanks!’ as each song drew to a close. I say ‘angst-ridden’ but in all honesty the whole set could have been about shopping for ingredients for the perfect beef bourguignon for all I could tell. Possibly not, though.

Also, a personal gripe here, aimed not solely at Fever Dream. Why do bands say ‘thanks’ immediately the last chord is struck? You don’t know what might be coming your way. We might all start jeering or booing or walking out. At least wait until one person starts to clap before thanking us!

On a more positive note, I did enjoy their last number, which was apparently on the Darren Hayman’s Vostock 5 release recently, or so they informed us. I’ll be trying to track that one down, anyway.

In the gap following Fever Dream, I moved to a spot near to the mixing desk for a good view of the two bands I’d really come to see. Glancing around, as you do, I noticed that the sound guy was watching football on his laptop. On asking what the score was, he told me that it wasn’t England but Italy vs Uruguay. He was deeply unhappy with the fact that Italy were losing 1-0 at home as well. Seeing him later I couldn’t help but notice more than a passing resemblance to a 1968-era Peter Bonetti.

For reasons I still don’t quite understand, I’ve managed to miss every London show by Pocketbooks since first coming across them at the 100 Club two years ago. Their debut CD ‘Flight Paths’ was my favourite of 2009 and has had frequent repeated visits ever since. In fact, I’m so fond of it that I almost didn’t want to hear the follow-up ‘Carousel’ when it came out recently. I’d managed to convince myself that they’d not be able to match the quality of the first one. When curiosity did eventually get the better of me, I was confused. Where were the jangly upbeat songs that littered every step of their debut? What’s with all this melancholic restraint and slow, stripped-down stuff? Convinced I was right to pre-judge it, I returned it to the shelf and moved on.

Giving it another try a few weeks later on, it slowly started to click, initially with ‘Promises, Promises’, which wouldn’t be out of place with their earlier work. Further listens allowed the real beauty, depth and craftsmanship of both the song-writing and the execution to reveal themselves. I was drawn in so tight that it started to hurt. Although definitely preferring Emma’s voice to Andy’s, if there’s a better songwriter around at the moment than Andy Hudson, I’m not aware of them. Take a bow, Andy – you’re a man with rare talent. Suffice to say that ‘Carousel’ is an exceptional album and is now playing more frequently than its predecessor ever managed, which I didn’t think would ever be possible.

So, with that in mind, I was more than slightly looking forward to seeing them live again. ‘Falling leaves’, ‘Not going out’ and ‘Harbour lights’ got things underway in a delightful manner before they added four members of The Little Orchestra to the mix. If you’re familiar with the Lexington, you’ll know that the stage is not the biggest and it now had nine people on it. And four violins need a reasonable amount of space, to reduce the risk of eyes being taken out on the more upbeat numbers.

The expanded line-up then gave us the achingly beautiful ‘Sparklers’ (an absolute gem of a song in a year full of superb releases), the aforementioned ‘Promises, promises’, ‘End of the pier’, ‘Sound of the carnival’ and old fave ‘Fleeting moments’.

While the band did nothing particularly wrong tonight, it never really got into top gear. Perhaps it was the meagre attendance or the more mellow nature of the newer material. Maybe it was down to me building them up too much in my head. Maybe it was because Italy lost 1-0 and the resultant sound was more than a bit muddy – who knows? It just seemed, I don’t know, slightly subdued. Enjoyable? Absolutely, but I was left with the feeling that so much more was, and should been, possible. Ah well, I won’t leave it two years until next time.

A late substitution at the mixing desk resulted in an instant and dramatic improvement in the sound quality when Shrag restarted the fun. The contrast was marked and the songs immediately hit home with a massive impact. As you can probably tell, I love Pocketbooks dearly but tonight Shrag kicked even their shadows right off-stage from the first number, a new one that seemed to be played on one chord throughout.

‘Faux coda’ followed and the band were in full-on rocking mode. Other new songs were aired and all sounded great. Older songs such as ‘Habit creep’ with its killer bass line, ‘Ghosts before breakfast’ and the mighty ‘Rabbit kids’ hit their marks admirably. There’s obviously a great friendship between all the members of the band as they spent as much time chatting among themselves as they did to the audience and it’s apparent that they are really happy doing what they do best.

The number of eagerly awaited new albums for 2012 is growing longer and the new Shrag one is definitely high up on that list.

All this for a mere £7.00. “Top entertainment”, as a Stoke-based vicar once said. And who am I to argue with him?

Again, work prevented arriving any earlier than seeing Tender Trap tying their shoelaces and heading out on to the track. The place was pretty full from the off and they served up slice after slice of great tunes. Dual-guitars and female harmonies are always a good starting point in my book but when you chuck in the know how to produce a decent melody and arrange a song, you end up in a pretty fab place indeed.

Tender Trap (c) Robin Halls

They are, somewhat inevitably I suppose, underpinned by the same drive and thrust as Tallulah Gosh but with different layers over the top. Less heads-down fuzz-thrash and more reflective craftsmanship these days, I feel. A more mature approach you could say. Their last album ‘Dansette, Dansette’ was a good ‘un and provided the basis for half of the set, the remainder presumably coming from their forthcoming one, which they excitedly told us they were starting to record the next day. Yay! Another one to look forward to. 2012 is shaping up to be a good year for albums already.

Darren Hayman and his Secondary Modern were next on and also went down well. The again, when there’s a good sound and you’ve written more good songs than most other people have even heard, why wouldn’t you be well received? Hefner’s ‘Hymn for the postal service’ got us off to a promising start and ‘Essex Arms’ and ‘Pram Town’ were raided for much of the rest of the set. I can only recall them playing one track from the latest CD but, as it’s piano based, perhaps the songs aren’t quite suited for a live performance with the full Secondary Modern backing.

Darren Hayman (c) Robin Halls

Darren was on fine form and is a natural raconteur; the chat between songs being almost as entertaining as the songs themselves (but in a good way, not cos the songs were crap).

The basic three chord arrangements remind me in some ways of Lou Reed’s style. Not so much lyrically though. Instead of tales of transvestites and drug abuse, we get songs about the mundane, ordinary things in life. Things we can all relate to at some level. Unless of course, it’s just me and Darren that don’t live lives like Lou Reed. Just a thought, like.

An excellent performance ended with ‘Good fruit’ with Amelia Fletcher joining in the fun on backing vocals – wonderful!

After fifteen minutes or so of pre-recorded video messages from many different bands, all wishing Sean Price (El Presidente of F-Pop) congratulations, attentions turned to Allo Darlin for the final act of the three day-treat. Whoever chose the bands to play (presumably Sean) chose well and Allo Darlin fulfilled the requirements of ‘festival headliners’ admirably.

Elizabeth from Allo Darlin (c) Robin Halls

I’ve written a few reviews of their live shows before on this site and will keep this one short as I don’t want to repeat myself (and I’m struggling to find new ways to praise them). Suffice to say, they were well up to their usual standard and that second album can’t come soon enough.

Cheers, Sean. I hope you enjoy doing what you do as much as everyone else enjoys what you do.

Here’s to the next fifteen years.

Although the temptation to buy a three-day season ticket was an almost irresistible itch, the need to maintain a modicum of domestic stability restricted attendance to first and last night only. When negotiations to attend were underway and the words ‘well, you can do what you like’ were uttered in a tone that would have Jack Frost reaching to nudge the thermostat up a degree or two, it’s better to admit defeat.

Sadly, the demands of earning the money to enjoy little trips like this meant arriving too late for the evening’s opening act, Malone Alone, and the first few minutes of Bearsuit. Their ‘Phantom Forest‘ album has been one of my highlights this year and their set was, understandably, taken almost entirely from it. The fair-to-middling crowd nodding along in quiet appreciation as Norwich’s finest did their thing. Lisa’s delightful black feather headgear (I’m not sure that ‘hat’ is quite the right term to describe it) and general bouncy behaviour being the visual focus point, as she cheerfully admitted being dressed as a chicken.

Lisa the chicken (c) Robin Halls

Their performance underlined just how strong their recent material is over some of their earlier, less polished, work. I know Lisa’s distinctive vocals are not to everyone’s taste but I’m usually up for a bit of shouty screaming and enjoyed every minute of them. I hope they maintain their current momentum in 2012. They left us with a spirited run through ‘Charger’, which is always a good thing to hear.

Cinema Red and Blue replaced them and manic off-kilter pop was replaced by a huge wall of 60’s swirly organ, jangly guitars and trumpet. Authentic haircuts, tear-shaped guitar, dodgy ‘tache (one to rival that sported by Ian Bearsuit) and a Rickenbacker semi-acoustic were all bang on the retro-beat money. However, the drummer and bassist seem to have defied the party whip , attired in a more muted and contemporary manner. Still, the overall powerful sound was good with ‘Walking to the cemetery’ standing out as a highlight.

Cinema Red & Blue (c) Robin Halls

After a while, several members of the seven-piece ambled off, to be replaced by various parts of Aislers Set to finish off the slot. They showed an alternative approach to a 60’s revival and were my band of the night (I bet they’ll be delighted to hear that). Others obviously agreed, as they were the only band to perform an encore. Great stuff!

The Aislers Set (c) Robin Halls

A quick mention here about the sort of people that tend to go to gigs like this. They are, in my experience, almost all, very well-mannered and polite.  This was brought home to me by someone accidentally knocking my pint over. To put this in to some kind of context, it was pint of pretty tasteless lager of some kind – not something to get particularly worked up about. However, said person immediately apologised profusely and offered to buy me another. Does this sort of thing happened at other gig genres? I suspect not. You’ll no doubt be relieved to hear that I declined her kind offer. Just thought it worth mentioning as it reaffirmed my thoughts that indie-pop kids are more sophisticated bunch that you may come across elsewhere.

Anyway, beerless as I now was, it was time for the Primitives to give us a run for our money and they appeared to the strains of Camper Van Beethoven’s eighties-classic ‘Take the skinheads bowling’. Which was nice.

Primitives (c) Robin Halls

Tracey may well be on the small side of petite but she’s (still) got all the necessary attributes to be a band leader, which she proved convincingly by leading the band as they raced through ‘Dreamwalk baby’, ‘Really stupid’ and my personal fave ‘Spacehead’ before anyone really had time to think ‘they’ve still got it, you know’.

A quick pause for breath and we were off again: ‘Thru the flowers’, ‘Stop killing me’ and ‘Sick of it all’ quickly followed. Although there was a decent-sized crowd in, I did notice that it seemed to be only people in their 40’s who were singing along. That’s probably what happens when you split up for over ten years – you lose touch with the kids.
The Prims always did have the ability to come up with a decent tune. It seems they’ve not lost this talent either, as their Fortuna Pop debut ‘Rattle my cage’ went down a storm with old and young alike, sounding excellent in to the bargain.

Inevitably ‘Crash’ rounded things off and got the biggest reaction of the evening, although personally I’ve always found it one of their less-worthy offerings. All in all, most enjoyable and I look forward to a new album before much longer and it’s great to have them back with us.

Any sign of a Dog Faced Hermans reunion yet?

They are not everybody’s cup of tea – The NME slated current single “Be a doll and take my heart” I am sure that does not bother them or their fans one bit….those here tonight listened attentively to a set which leaned towards their more introverted folk material, in the quieter moments there was an atmosphere of hushed reverence and the songs were received enthusiastically for the most part.

An upbeat highlight was the title song of the recent album Strange Moosic performed as a sing-along with support Sean Flinn and others, as well as “Tell me something I don’t know” from the same record. These songs seem more in keeping with their various Fortuna Pop label mates but they are not typical, most of the material they played tonight having a folkier feel and at times it put me in mind of Sufjan Stevens and Jonathon Richman.

Incidentally, they are notably absent from the 3 day Fortuna Pop celebration of the label’s 15th anniversary at the Scala next month – maybe they don’t quite fit in?

Singer David Ivar’s voice is Marmite; somewhat reedy and high pitched for some but it suits the whimsical folk that predominate tonight rather well. I have heard it described as a scando-parisian yodel(David is Swedish I think)….Overall this is breezy lightweight stuff played with more precision than passion – It makes for an enjoyable rather than exhilarating gig. The warmth between an audience clearly familiar with their songs and a band appreciative of the response was striking.

A good night for Herman Dune and their fans, perhaps less compelling for the casual listener.

Sweet Baboo is Stephen Black and his guitar

Sweet Baboo, comprised of Stephen Black and his guitar, is back with his latest EP ‘Girl Under A Tree’. Telling tales of love, life and relationships, Stephen’s raspy vocals and sweet lyrics create a stunning contrast.

The opening title track Girl Under A Tree is a wonderfully tender elegy to an endless love. His melancholic lyrics include lines such as “ten of me could never amount to one of you, but I’d like to”.

The Day I Lost My Voice picks up the pace with a marching beat, and the cleverly interwoven guitar strains give the track an edgier feel to the previous ones. The two instrumentals, MB following after Girl Under A Tree and LB after Great Year, set the tone for what’s to come without jarring the listener out of the relaxed mood he’s created.

The final track, Bounce, is a catchy, hopeful track about being ready to look for love once again – without losing sight of the past. With lines such as “how can I forget you, when all my thoughts are of you” sung in such an upbeat way, it’s easy to find yourself humming the tune long after it’s over.

Overall, the EP has a warm, optimistic atmosphere surrounding it. Released via Shape Records on the 19th September, the only downside to the EP is that it’s over too quickly.

Sweet Baboo – Girl Under A Tree EP Tracklist:

1.    Girl Under A Tree
2.    MB
3.    The Day I Lost My Voice
4.    Great Year
5.    LB
6.    Bounce

Herman Dune announce the second single from their critically acclaimed new album ‘Strange Moosic‘. The French duo of David-Ivar Herman Dune and Cosmic Néman follow the roaring success of the first single “Tell Me Something I don’t Know” (notable for its fantastic road movie video featuring Jon Hamm from Mad Men and a strange little blue yeti) with “Be A Doll and Take My Heart”, an upbeat pop ditty fuelled by acoustic guitars, David-Ivar’s distinctive vocals and fun-filled “oohs”.

Here’s a link to the video for the song, directed again by Toben Seymour and features Herman Dune’s signature baby-blue Yeti hanging out with the kids and skateboarding!

David-Ivar wrote this as a love song, despite the fact that he started writing it after reading Deuteronomy 33:6, in which Moses blesses Reuben and says “May You Live And Not Die“. In context this might have been some kind of admonition but David-Ivar saw it otherwise and thought it was a wonderful thing to say to a loved one. Using the line as a starting point for the song, David added his favourite things to tell a woman you love, including the expression “Be A Doll”, which ended up being the title and the chorus of the song. As he explains: “Giving your heart to someone is a big deal and I felt that asking a girl nicely to “Be a doll and take my heart” balances out the wish that she would live and not die and the possessiveness of “May you never love another guy”

Recorded in Portland, Oregon at Type Foundry Studios (The Decemberists, Dirty Projectors, M Ward), the song’s structure was based on four chords being played sitting down, reminiscent of Kurt Cobain’s guitar-based songs like “Polly” or “On A Plane“, and was embellished with sweet backing vocals by local Portland artists Sean Flinn and Rachel Blumberg.

Herman Dune October UK Tour:

Wednesday, 12 October
London, UK, Union Chapel

Thursday, 13 October
Southampton, UK, Joiners Arms

Friday, 14 October
Nottingham, UK, Rescue Rooms

Saturday, 15 October
Manchester, UK, Islington Mill

Sunday, 16 October
Glasgow, Scotland, King Tuts

Monday, 17 October
Leeds, UK, The Brudenell Social Club

Tuesday, 18 October
York, UK, The Duchess

Wednesday, 19 October
Sheffield, UK, The Hawley

Thursday, 20 October
Cardiff, Wales, SWN Festival

Friday, 21 October
Birmingham, UK, Academy

Saturday 22 October
Rough Trade Instore – Saturday 22 October – 12 noon

Herman Dune release “Be A Doll and Take My Heart” on Fotuna POP! on Monday 10 October.