It’s a quiet night at The Barge: much quieter than you might expect for a night of music featuring Tape Error, The Flowing and Will Varley. But that might be because somewhere down the road in Rochester, The Preservation Society are on day two of their Live Transmission festival. So it’s something of an intimate setting for the performance of some truly excellent songs.
First up comes Will Varley, a singer-songwriter who mingles political polemic with heartbreakingly personal songs. Pretty much every singer armed with nothing but a guitar will be compare to Bob Dylan (and/or Nick Drake) at some point in their career. Here though the comparison has something to it: not just because of the guitar and grizzled voice, but also because of his songs’ contents.
Varley’s angrier tunes are protest songs in the tradition of anything off ‘Free Wheelin’’: Post-9/11, post-recession, post-hung parliament protest songs. When Varley goes electric, there may well be people who insist on calling him Judas. But this time, it will be a reference to that other Judas: the patron saint of lost causes.
‘The Sound of the Markets Crashing’, Varley’s second song of the night, is a case in point: an indictment (damning, of course; is there any other kind?) of commercialism and corporate greed – and its effects on normal people.
But politics is just one part of Varley’s music. ‘This song’s about a bitch,’ he announces, somewhat out of the blue, a few songs in. It’s called ‘I Still Think About You Sometimes’. Next comes a song about growing up in Kingston Upon Thames (as Varley did) and a childhood friend who died young (‘New Born’).
Later he will sing ‘King For a King’, which Varley claims is about the first time he became aware he was attracted to his uncle’s legs. Hmm. The song is, in fact, something of an ‘all the world’s a stage’ speech set to music. It outlines all the disappointments of life, before the whole sorry saga begins again with the birth of your child: ‘what have I done with my life?’ runs the rather morose final lines.
When not spitting his bile at David Cameron and the coalition government, Will Varley’s songs are delivered with a heart-breaking tenderness: the sound of a thousand sadnesses. It’s utterly beautiful and strikingly poignant.
The highlight of Varley’s performance, sung to the small but highly appreciative audience, is ‘A Monkey on a Rock’. For a brief moment, there was an attempt on Facebook to get this song, complete with its gloriously snide remarks about Simon Cowell, to go up against the inevitable X Factor Christmas single for number one. In a way, it’s a shame Nirvana has been nominated for that role. It’s a sneering, satirical diatribe against Cowell and co. I think you’d like it.
Tape Error
After a short break, we’re on to the second act of the evening: Tape Error who, coincidentally or otherwise form part of the new Flowing line-up. But more about that later. For the time being though it’s Chris Austin (acoustic guitar) and Matt Bell (bass) on stage with regular contributions from John Whittaker on flugelhorn and trumpet.
Tape Error’s music fits in perfectly with Medway’s burgeoning acoustic scene. They move from gentle, lullaby sounds through to heavily thrumming sounds that will definitely wake you up – all in the space of the same song. Beneath Austin’s husky vocal the music rolls along: the sound of a boulder gathering no moss and little else besides.
Their song ‘Hands’ is an upbeat, jiggy affair with an off-beat feel that’s less reggae, more Latin in feel. It’s an old favourite apparently (although the band only formed this year), and the pub is filled with the sound of drinkers clapping and singing along in places. Add to this John Whittaker’s bright textured trumpeting to the mix and you’ve got something very impressive indeed.
And then comes The Flowing. Dave, the lead singer and sole constant in the band’s line up, takes to the stage for a solo performance of ‘Atlantis’, a gentle, lilting tune of folky goodness: ‘I want to live in Atlantis/if only I could find the way/I could be the ruler of the seas/and you could be princess of the waves.’
There’s a sense of dreamy idealism (far from a criticism) in these songs, accompanied by an equally dreamy sounding accompaniment. It makes Dave of The Flowing a kind of Leonard Cohen to Will Varley’s Dylan.
Following from Dave’s short solo set, the new band line up appears: Tape Error’s Austin and Bell, plus John Whittaker returning with his flugel and trumpet. There’s gentle innocence to the music here, aided and abetted by the warmth and, again, brightness of Whittaker on brass. ‘Garden of England’ keeps things upbeat, complete with Whitaker on trumpet and Austin’s electric guitar meandering around beneath. It grows and grows into a riot of sound.
Gorgeous.
Later, with ‘The Voyage’ Austin’s guitar is distorted into a piercing, ringing sound while the man himself jigs around like he’s dancing on hot coals. The new line-up has a fresh, fun feel to it. It’s going to be fascinating to hear how the changes affect the sound.
Another fantastic evening of music in Medway, then. But then, that goes without saying.
Stephen Morris
