Vile goes solo... (part 4)

I usually pride myself on not taking notes when I am reviewing. So sitting in the corner using a laptop is a pretty strange experience. At least none of the really hard looking guys have come over and asked what I am doing. Especially the guitarist out of Dog Moon Howl. He looks like he could kill me with one finger.

Then again, that's probably  part of the whole rock'n'roll mythology. DMH make tough, masculine blues - for me, it shreds the vulnerability of the acoustic tradition and armours the heart against the breaking that makes the blues. Big Hogg are far more a joyous sound - I am hearing a 1973 outdoor festival between the notes, and the looser they get, the more seduced I am.

Natalie Pryce - the band are wandering around the audience, looking very sharply dressed - have created an evening where the delicacy and sensitivity of performance art meets the rough vitality of rock. I'm not sure that I can find a narrative - dear God, I'm pretentious - that resolves the tension, although McLuckie did have an abrasive edge on his more whimsical story-telling. Maybe MacAskill will give us more answers...

As for my narrative comment, I believe that an evening like The Gatsby Club would have a narrative, the acts tied together by the theme of the evening. Natalie Pryce are more interested, I think, in presenting stuff they like.