w/ ORDINARYSON
EDINBURGH, CABARET VOLTAIRE- 01.12.04
Glockenspiels, a clarinet, a recorder, a synthesizer, a keyboard, a mandolin, a violin, a cello, some big oriental looking bass instrument and plenty of acoustic guitars; the definitive instrument collection of any aspiring Scottish indie act need in order to succeed. It’s just genius isn’t it? Is there anything aurally better than listening to a tinkling glockenspiel tune being played over some Dr Who type synth noise with an overly skinny Scottish lad singing away in an almost falsetto voice? Simple answer…no.
Now, we must apologise profusely to the first band, of which Aberfeldy’s multi-talented Riley Briggs was a part of, as we never caught their name. They did tell us a couple of time and it was something to do with “wax and lyrical” but unfortunately we can’t remember it all. Oops! However, they were hilarious. With a plethora of the aforementioned instruments being used, songs about Janitors and cheesy rock clichés being performed by the very un-rock like lead man they held the audience in the palm of their collective hand.
Ordinaryson, playing without the aid of their trusty laptop and all its jangly noise making potential, really suffered because of it. They sounded drab, weak and rather impotent. With three guitars on stage you would have expected them to have created something a bit more dynamic and powerful but it really wasn’t. We must give them credit though for their lyrics, they were hugely moving. One song in particular, which was introduced as “a nice little number”, went along the line’s of “Daddy’s got brown in his veins again” and told the story of a child, neglected because of her father’s drug addiction. It was dark and perhaps the only moment in their set in which everyone was paying their full attention.
After all the equipment had been crammed onto the tiny stage, the five members of Aberfeldy clambered on. If you haven’t ever seen a picture of these guys then it’s a rather bizarre affair. The band members range in age, by the looks of things, to quite a large extent. The older looking drummer and bassist sit nicely at the back of the stage whilst the nicely dressed teens, frontman Riley Briggs and multi-instrumentalists and backing singers Sarah McFadyen and Ruth Barrie, stand at the front with smiles on their faces throughout the set, laughing off any technical mishaps and looking genuinely flattered by the awesome audience response to each and every one of their songs.
Bursting through a set consisting of every song on their spectacularly beautiful album of the year contender debut, the band managed to either please the diehard fans or create a whole new breed of fan who all went running to the merch stand where we could buy, as Riley told us jokingly, “Tee-shirts suitable for the indie kids, some badges, CDs, mugs and tea towels.” They opened with the album opener “A Friend Like You”, an anthem for all the scarf wearing, perfectly pressed and groomed indie folk that filled the underground vault that the gig was held in. “Love is an Arrow” is as close to acceptable pop perfection as we’re probably going to get, in all seriousness. Would we lie to you? Its wonderful lyrics and brilliant folk guitar part turn it into a sprawling sing-along that you just can’t keep still to.
“Tie One On”, “Young Forever” and “Slow Me Down” provide the “hard indie” for the evening and it too is just genius. We can’t stress this enough, this band are damn special! They finished off with the incredible “Heliopolis By Night” which had everybody dancing, singing and most importantly, smiling.
Aberfeldy need to be embraced, nurtured and loved. They should succeed and go onto great things because they are truly unique and brilliant. Why bother hyping that filth that’s coming out of London, stuff that we’ve heard a thousand times before, when there are bands like Aberfeldy, frolicking freely in the evil world of music with innocent smiles on their faces, enjoying what they’re doing and making the most beautiful, perfect indie pop music that any band in the country currently has to offer.
Review by Jason Edwards