With an unprecedented rain presentation
ongoing in the world outside there were clearly concerns amongst the Teeth and
Tongue contingent particularly that no-one was going to show up however great
the lineup at the Shadow Electric, a remarkable but in the scheme of things pretty
out-of-the-way venue right on the edge of Abbotsford. After all, it was not a
launch or a ‘special’ event, other than the exceptional fact than we were all
alive at that moment and wished to commune in a listenable environment. Irregardless the place was already
impressively populated when Time for Dreams took the stage early in the
evening.
This two-piece spearhead the shoegaze
renewal with that very 21st century innovation of a looped and
‘generated’ backing (not sure what was bringing the rhythm but Tom Carlyon had
at least ten pedals of various descriptions on offer). Of course this kind of
set up means all songs have to have extended intros which are actually just
getting the loops and shit in order. Amanda Roff was barefoot and her bass was
at times booming and at others muddy but given the weather you couldn’t call
that inappropriate. Things progressed well until the end of the set, with what
Roff described as ‘our final thing’, and then it took off, and while it was
uncertain whether she was singing about being ‘high on religion’, or a ‘high
population’, or perhaps ‘hi, I’m an engine’ the main thrust came from a soaring
80s glam stadium rock exercise which managed to marry firstly a Neil Young
‘Everyone Knows…’ vibe with that weird ‘chinesey’ sound you used to get in
keyboard-based bands of thirty years ago. That was a triumph.
The Ancients’ Jonathan Michell’s banter
sprinkled throughout their set on this remarkable evening was possibly some of
the least inspirational ever uttered aside from nothing, on the other hand, if
you go looking for inspiration in band banter you were probably in trouble long
beforehand. The group – one of the finest, hands down – presented a thick
pastiche of subtly re-rendered takes on previously released songs and material
presently being worked up for a new album. Two instrumentals emerged thus, one
a pounding, esoteric and double-barrelled supercharged ‘Ride of the
Valkyries’-styled sturm und drang powderkeg played as Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry might
conduct an orchestra comprised of members of Can and Black Sabbath… until its
second part, which comes closer to seventies Lou Reed’s full sonic potential as
only dreamt by Tony Visconti after a surfeit of pina coladas with Amanda Lear.
An extraordinarily glamorous band brimming with sex appeal, The Ancients have
no problem uniting the sounds of the traditional church organ (very appropriate
at that place of pain and shame that is the Abbotsford Convent) with a jig in
the style of Big Country. They cannot be underestimated and their 2015 album is
already one of next year’s best.
A moment to mention the Full Ugly DJs this
evening. It is always advisable when DJing to play as much Prefab Sprout as one
can. The lilting, wry observations of singer-songwriter Paddy MacAloon,
facilitated into the near-mainstream as they were by a distinguished cohort
such as Everything But the Girl and Aztec Camera, do not get enough dancefloor
action in this day and age and should, in fact, be compulsory particularly the
song ‘Appetite’, which was not played this evening but fuckin’ should have
been. Nonetheless, excellent selections.
Kangaroo Skull evoked a woodpecker in a
rifle range. No-one knew how to dance to this but thought they could anyway.
Teeth and Tongue owe nothing to anybody.
The argument continues whether Jess Cornelius has a right to continually
promote the group as a solo project that just happens to feature four other
hard-working and talented musicians who have consolidated into a stunningly
fine and fluid collective; it’s a solo project the same way you and I are solo
projects, but we still need other people and even Margaret (‘there is no such thing
as society’) Thatcher played with a team. Marc Reguiero-McKelvie, one of the
world’s most inventive and eloquent guitar players, is an integral part not
just of the T&T sound but also the dynamic core of each song; when he
enters the fray it’s like taking your shades off in the art gallery. Listen to
his work with his solo project Popolice and his other band New Estate if you
haven’t. And if JC is going to continue to insist she is Teeth and Tongue, she
should consider that (a) even if she is, Teeth and Tongue wouldn’t be half as
good without the other players, Marc in particular and (b) giving Marc half the
front cover of the Tambourine album
suggests she knows this whether she knew it or not. None of this is germane to
Teeth and Tongue’s show at Abbotsford, except it’s germane to Teeth and Tongue
altogether. So T&T will close the set with a cover of ‘Total Control’,
which JC will sing with deft passion alongside the utterly complimentary and
beguiling second vocalist Jade McInally, and you know she has in no way lost
that control, except then Marc comes in half way through and gives a whole new
reading to the song’s possibilities.
The jungle vibe to so many of the Teeth and
Tongue set at the moment is visceral and hard-leaning. There is a My Life in the Bush of Ghosts sense to
the whole, with a kind of throbbing jitteriness that counters the goth
sensibility of the layered, searing set (nods to the foul ‘Kokomo’ aside). Only
last week the amazing Pauline Murray was doing a very, very, very, low, low key
tour, and it’s Murray’s work with Martin Hannett as the Invisible Girls thirty
years ago that provides one great touchstone for the current T&T sounds. I
mean they probably haven’t heard it. Except it’s everywhere in the culture now.
In sum at the end of the day, a brilliant
night of realised potential. Thank you all for coming. It worked.
* note from late 2024: I have absolutely, utterly, no recollection whatsoever of this show - none.
