06 November 2010 (gig)
13 November 2010
On a cold November evening, what more could we wish for than seeing Tunng and a fine selection of musicians they have found, and liked, along the way. Folk songs by Hannah Peel, French experimental comedy grunge by Gablé, and quiet country songs from Sam Amidon.
Hannah Peel is perfectly placed to warm up the gathering crowd, and it seems there is nothing she can’t play. Violin, keyboard, a music box and of course, the simple beauty of her pixie-perfect voice.
Utilising everything from drums, samples and air horns French band Gablé crash around onstage to their jumping base-filled sound, their wild antics and obscure lyrics initially prompting perplexed and quizzical looks from the audience, though they quickly won them over with songs like "Hawaii" and "Puree Hip Hop". Possessing an almost schizophrenic physicality, the guys in the band seemed to be fighting to keep their bone structures inside its casing. The energy onstage showed that they were having as much fun as the audience and running the risk of stealing the show they left the stage much to everyone’s dismay especially I imagine that of Sam Amidon who’s’ job it was the follow on from them. If you have the chance to see these guys then do, you won’t be disappointed!
Tunng didn’t waste any time in showing their quirky nature, starting the set with trippy visuals and a solo intro from the drummer, which included him playing a concoction of miniature trinkets and symbols with his bare feet before being joined onstage by the rest of the band who then burst in the rousing title track from the new album. “Don’t Look Down or Back.” A bold move, to start with one of their most well known songs. But I was presently surprised as it became clear, when they were joined on stage by Hannah Peel and founding Tunng member Sam Genders, that they were clearly pulling out all the stops for this London home coming show. With Genders’s distinctive and beautiful but almost whispered style of singing delivery they were able to do justice to songs from the first album “Mothers Daughters and Other Songs” such as the hauntingly beautiful “Tale from Black” which was first championed by John Peel in 2004 and the rarely played “Code Breaker.”
After this it was time to showcase some of the slower songs from the new album “With Whisky”, “October” and “Weekend Away.” These were accompanied by stunning visuals from the natural world, swarms of white birds against a black sky and lonesome sharks slowly moving through clear water, being two of the most memorable. Then it was back again to swirling bright colours, novelty sunglasses and hats, very much in the spirit of Bestival and fun upbeat crowd pleasers such as“By dusk”, “Hustle” and finally “Bullets.”
Tonight, Tunng showed that they have an extremely impressive and diverse back catalogue but have released a new album which might be their most accomplished to date. Their new album, “Don’t look down or back,” is perhaps less experimental and electronic than their earlier albums and it seems they have gained lots of new fans while also delighting old fans with a new yet familiar sound created by the singing of Becky Jacobs. The title of the evening, “Embers”, was very appropriate as the music perfectly fitted the warm cosy atmosphere of drinking around the fireplace on cold autumn nights. And as Tunng sang themselves on “Woodcat, We all had a lovely time."
Includes words on Gable by: Michael Iveson
