GIG REVIEW:Shady Bard/Little Dipper/Falling and Laughing/Chinook@Yardbird 8/7/07

This weekly Sunday night gig at the Yardbird, is a venture from ‘This Is Tomorrow’ (who have put together some blisteringly good gigs in Birmingham over the last 6 months or so.) It is the perfect end to a weekend and best of all, it’s free!

Chinook kicked off with his trademark magical acoustic guitar twiddling. He demands your attention without saying a word. He exceeds the Government Recommended Number of Words per Lyric Line by 1000%, at a pace reminiscent of the work of Scatman John and still manages to fashion it into the most serene and beautiful music you ever heard. Birmingham’s Eighth Wonder. I, like many others, watched in awe.

Falling and Laughing are a new local phenomenon. They like the word twee-core, yet are entirely unconvinced that it accurately describes their sound. Think the raw energy and chaos of The Wedding Present. Think the warm faux innocence of Death Cab. Think the comedic cheeky charm of Chas and Dave. This acoustic set was a nice contrast from their usual louder electrical sound, giving a gentle and warm edge to their interesting and creative rhythmical arrangements. Fuelled by incessant drums and pretty harmonies, they seem at their best at the extremes, for example the wistful ‘Lights Out Birmingham’ or else belting hell out of their instruments for a finale. Recommended.

Little Dipper, usually a solo act, was joined by bass and drums. A wise move, as this really brought a new strength to the songs and is a format I hope to see used in the future.

Finally, Shady Bard took to stage. Many technical false starts left an exasperated Shady Bard seeming distinctly unhappy but then sunshine, sugar and smiles is not really their thing at the best of times.
Their series of London and other city gigs this year, building up to their recent album release, has obviously left them polished and primed. Singer Lawrence has totally mastered the wailing angst that he has always seemed to strive for in his vocals and indeed it really is their distinctive quality. Over strings, guitar, keyboards and horn, his voice commandingly soars above it all and overwhelms in a pleasingly suffocating manner before abating, like the calm after the storm.