"Lotsa fun in two sets" comments the English guitarist in Slow Music of their appearance at The Great American Music Hall,[endtease] and he’s not wrong. After the skittering cymbal work which opens the first set, the music takes on the feel of something akin to a sci-fi soundtrack: strange rumblings, curious ethereal ghost-songs fleetingly erupt into life and just as quickly disappear.
Quicker off the mark than on previous occasions, Robert’s trademark sounds can be heard probing and feeling their way into the music, as can the butter knife-wielding, Peter Buck. In the second set the telepathy really starts happening - a superb example of what paying attention to your fellow musicians on stage can produce with some top-drawer interplay. Underpinned by Fred Chalenor's bass, drummer Matt Chamberlain’s playing is given lots of room in which to open up and encourage others to mark their mark.
With moments that are surprisingly bright and even upbeat (prior to the second set’s seismic conclusion), director Rieflin was bang on the money when he said "Each performance is unique -even we don't know how things will turn out: it is the mystery and risk of live performance." Lots of mystery, lots of risk, and like the man said at the top, lotsa fun.
