Another instalment of the Tin Angel's Bang/Click:Whirl festival sees the
arrival from America of leftfield indie eccentric Jeremy Barnes under the
alias of A Hawk and a Hacksaw. In keeping with the spirit of the event,
though, two local artists kick the evening off.

Ed Gillet probably comes closest to the category of 'folktronica'. Using a
laptop to create loops of sound, he opens with a fascinating insight into
how tracks can be layered and built up by recording spurts of various
instruments and adding them, one by one, to the mix. It's not the most
visual of entertainment, but the deconstruction of such music into its
component parts is welcome demystification. Personally, it moved me to dig out my Boards of Canada records and consider investigation of bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, music that I had previously found distant and impersonal.

Mawda are one of the leading products of the student band scene in Coventry, offering a slant on the standard four-piece formula by using three vocalists and a violin as well as guitar, bass and drums. Their songs offer an upbeat yet wry take on modern life, an outlook encapsulated perfectly by 'You Forgot Your Personality' and 'MSN Stole My Girlfriend'. They aren't all caustic anger, mind, and the strings come to the fore on the tender 'Spotlight'. With more wit and variety than most bands you'd care to name, and a growing profile around the country, expect to hear more from Mawda soon.

All of which leads to a quite unique headline act. Jeremy Barnes played
drums for cult US indie-rock outfit Neutral Milk Hotel, but tonight comes
with accordion, accompanied by a violin (actually, due to technical trouble
and some swift cooperation, the same violin as Mawda). He resembles a
one-man band with his assortment of drums and cymbals hit by drumsticks
attached to various parts of his body. Add a bushy beard and the image is of morris dancing, but there's no thigh-slapping here. Receptive silence
welcomes a performance often mournful and funereal of pace, but which rouses and swells until the sounds seems like it might burst out of the small
venue. Near the end, Barnes sings a couple of tunes, unveiling a more than
passable voice and some fiercely anti-war lyrics. As a finale he enters the
crowd, sandwiching the audience between the two performers. Such a small touch is a fitting way to end an understated, but still magical display.
 

Words by Grant Lakeland
 

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