Not so much Not Safe For Work as Not Suitable For The Easily Disturbed, the video for the title track of Soap&skin’s new EP Sugarbread leaves you uneasy, and yet, compelled to watch again.
The video was ‘processed’ by Soap&skin herself, Anja Plaschg, and yet again she reveals herself to be an artist to watch, closely, carefully and with respect…
SOAP&SKIN – SUGARBREAD from Soap&Skin on Vimeo.
Kid Canaveral -‘Now That You Are A Dancer.’ (Fence)
It’s been three years since Kid Canaveral’s debut Shouting At Wildlife. And in that time, they’ve gigged like fury, signed to Fence and collaborated with head honcho King Creosote (yours truly was privileged to be DJing at the launch party for the Last Battle’s Springwell EP where King Creosote played with Kid Canaveral as his backing band as the support), and found time to write and record their sophomore album.
Now That You Are A Dancer isn’t a wild break from the template that gave us Shouting At Wildlife, but what they have done is to hone their act even further, and listening to the two albums side by side, it’s their new album that emerges the stronger. Kid Canaveral have always specialised in their own unique brand of indie-pop (that’s as opposed to stadium indie-landfilll-by numbers variety, by the way), and to listen to this album is to feel that it holds its own with the likes of The Pastels and The Wedding Present.
Amongst the highlights are album opener and first single ‘The Wrench’ and the rather fabulously titled ‘Breaking Up Is The New Getting Married’ but I’m also head over heels for the Kate Lazda-sung ‘Skeletons’ and ‘Without A Backing Track.’ (I look forward to her solo album when she feels so inclined>)
In writing my review for this new album, I decided to check out what I’d written for Shouting At Wildlife, three years ago. I’d concluded then that ‘…regardless of how long the second album takes, I’m sure it will be worth the wait.’ I was right, it would seem!
****1/2
Now That You Are A Dancer is released by Fence on March 4.
Robyn Hitchcock -‘Love From London.’ (Yep Roc)
Sixty this month, former Soft Boys frontman Robyn Hitchcock has apparently (at least, it’s what the press release says) described his songs as ‘Paintings you can listen too.’ The thing is, whilst that might ring alarm bells for some people, there’s something about these ten songs that sit together rather nicely. And they are constructed in a way that suggests that he knows his craft and that his work comes from his own soul.
It’s not always that albums open with quite soft numbers, and yet ‘Harry’s Song’ actually sets the tone for the record rather wonderfully. And along with the single ‘Be Still’ there’s the album’s standout track ‘Strawberries Dress’ which combines The Beatles circa The White album with Around The World In A Day-era Prince. The cherry on the top of this song most definitely being the gorgeous ‘cello from Jenny Adejayan.
So, a rather lovely record all round. If you aren’t familiar with his work, this is certainly not a bad place to start investigating…
****
Love From London is released on Yep Roc on March 4.
Richard Thompson: Usher Hall, Edinburgh, February 28, 2013
Despite the fact that he now resides in America, Richard Thompson has made a number of visits to Edinburgh over the past few years. I’ve seen him no less than three times at this city’s Queen’s Hall venue since 2005, but this time he was promoting his new album, appropriately entitled Electric, and he was here as part of a three-piece band. Michael Jerome (drums) and Taras Prodaniuk (bass) were certainly what muso-types might refer to as ‘tight’ and in the absence of any female backing singers (and I suspect we aren’t going to see him onstage with Linda Thompson, any more than Sandy Denny’s going to be back to play with him), their harmonies certainly added to the sound.
Electric his new album has given him his highest chart placing in the UK ever (no.16) and not surprisingly it formed the basis for much of tonight’s gig. The album is Thompson firing on all cylinders and if it’s not quite as amazing as some of the records he has made over his forty years plus in the business, it’s because he has set the bar so high. Certainly; no-one can really accuse him of relying on past glories, and songs like ‘Good Things Happen To Bad People’ ‘Sally B’ and ‘Salford Sunday’ (which he acknowledges as being more about the Salford described in Ewan MacColl’s Dirty Old Town than where the BBC has now decamped to) are welcome additions to the fine inventory that is the Richard Thompson songbook.
But he also delved into his back catalogue and treated us to both ‘Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed?’ and ‘Wall Of Death’ from 1982’s Shoot Out the Lights, the murder ballad ‘Sidney Wells’ from Dream Attic and to the delight of the crowd ‘For Shame Of Doing Wrong’ from Pour Down Like Silver. Sure, there were ommissions – ‘I Feel So Good’ ‘Dry My Tears and Move On’ ‘Turning Of The Tide’…but the reality is that genius though he undoubtedly is, even Richard Thompson can only cram so many songs into a two hour set.
Amongst the encores was a cover of ‘Hey Joe’ acknowledging that he was playing as part of a power trio, like the Jimi Hendrix Experience or Cream. The latter may have made a global superstar of Eric Clapton, but I can’t help feeling that of all the sixties singers, Thompson is the one who still has it,voice, songwriting skills and all.
May we have another visit soon, please?