Photo: Justin Edwards

You can’t accuse Mr Rascal’s visionary Christian Duell of lacking ambition. Eager to avoid the typical CD-launch-in-a-bar scenario, Duell has booked QPAC’s thoroughly respectable Cremorne Theatre, with the surreal result that tousle haired indie kids are found among the white wine-guzzling Friday night theatre crowd.

Carry Nation starts the event with her spectacularly pure vocals and minimalist acoustic guitar (even she admits she generally sticks to around three chords). Her intimate songs are given extra resonance by the Cremorne’s marvellous acoustics, her shyness eventually overcome by a gift for anecdotes between tunes.

Up next, The Granite Lakes provide a more abstract performance, their grimy blues rock given experimental touches by occasional effects pedal freakouts and reverberating electronic bass. Singer/guitarist Alex Dunlop possesses a nervy, marble-mouthed voice, somewhere between Blood On The Tracks-era Dylan and Clinic’s Ade Blackburn. But unlike Clinic’s pacey, nightmarish R&B, the Lakes have a more spacious, unravelling approach to their song dynamics. It’s also a rare treat to hear bug-eyed garagey art-rock in a traditionally more “respectable” venue.

Finally, Christian Duell and his many pals are on hand to infuse Mr Rascal’s heartfelt indie folk rock with horns, opera harmonies, violin and whatever other talents are on hand. The result is an ambitious performance, taking in all the songs from superb new album A Pocketful Of Smoke, complete with field recordings of steam engines, Mr Whippy trucks and Salvation Army bands. Duell and friends perform a combination of rollicking folk with whimsical, melancholic balladry, fiery rock & roll and pre-pop influences. The result is a triumphant set (actually enhanced and humanised further by the occasional mistake), that is bursting with a warm familiarity – these are tunes that sound like old friends even when you’re hearing them for the first time. From the barnstorming single Let It Roll, to the McCartney-worthy slowie Little Brown Bed, this is a performance that takes in mournful Waitsian waltzes, near-rockabilly hoedowns and plaintive poppy love songs with spectacular ease. Duell reveals the venue’s initial misgivings about the evening, but the full house (admittedly heavily populated by friends and family) and rapturous applause should surely set such concerns aside.

MATT THROWER  

Comments (2)

Write Comment
Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Poster's IP addresses are logged.
Name:
Comment:
Code:*