Hinds at Saint Lukes Glasgow

I listed Viva Hinds by Hinds in my albums of the year blog at the end of 2024, describing it as; dreamy, treashy, thrashy, brashy garage guitar pop with dashes of shoegaze and psychedelia. I can't wait to see them in February. I actually think the album will make even more sense after seeing them live.

Well, I've now seen Hinds live and I can confirm that both the album and the band themselves make more sense and I've really fallen for them. The gorgeous pull of The Bed, The Room, The Rain and You, the coolness of Superstar, charm of Hi, How Are You?, their taste in covering Charli xcx and The Clash and the undeniable passion and energy they bring to live shows.

Saint Luke's was sold out, the final tickets snapped up on the back of the previous days 6Music session with Craig Charles. 

The 4-piece bounded on to the stage, Carlotta Cosials and Ana Garcia Perrote on guitars and vocals, with friends playing bass and drums. The next 80-minutes or so were a delightful blur of guitars, hooks, accents and energy. The crowd all fell for the band big time.

Carlotta was super cool with hair tied high, khaki top and black flares, leading the band through a sublime set of garage guitar pop. Hinds are super tight but beautifully raw and catchy with it. The dual vocals can harmonise or egg each other on, upping the level of excitement.

Ana was a bundle of energy, fizzing left and right to literally bounce off Carlotta or their bass player, jumping, playing synth at times and generally looking like she was having the night of her life. That really is the vibe that Hinds give off. 

During the encore Carlotta and Ana recruited a fan to play guitar, then cleared a space in the venue, before jumping down into the crowd for a dance routine and then a huge pogo session and I totally wished we'd gone downstairs rather than up! See the video below!

My mates and I left super energised and checking where they were playing next to see if we could travel down! Hopefully Hinds will be back in Glasgow before too long.

Kerr Mercer at King Tuts

Word of mouth is still the best form of publicity. Word is slowly, but surely and steadily, spreading through the Glasgow and Scottish music scene about young singer-songwriter Kerr Mercer.

I first caught Kerr back in October 2023 when he opened Tenement Trail on a wet and stormy Saturday afternoon. Those of us that were in Saint Luke's early enough were treated to a warm welcome as Mercer played a short set of songs he had been writing and recording.

Still only 17, Kerr is at ease playing both piano and guitar and he has a deep, rich and soulful voice that tugs on heart strings, sends tingles down spines and causes jaws to drop. 

Following the Tenement Trail set, Kerr then picked up a some excellent support slots, including shows with both McFly and Callum Beattie at the Barrowland Ballroom towards the end of the year.

Kerr then kicked off 2024 by playing a sold out headline gig in the intimate and immensely cool setting of The Poetry Club. Attending felt like being let in on a secret. His 9-song set was cool, calm and confident. Mercer was funny while speaking with the crowd, wearing a broad smile as friends sang-along to a couple of songs. Guess I Flew To Close To The Sun was a personal highlight for me. 

Momentum has continued to build, with more support slots, including dates with The Snuts at the Barrowland in the lead up to a sold-out show at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, the legendary Glasgow venue that has been such an important step in so many careers.

Ahead of the build up, Kerr also announced that he would be playing TRNSMT in the summer - he has a lot going on, even before he has released a single.

Support at King Tuts was a young female singer-songwriter called Abbie Gordon, backed by her friend on acoustic/electric guitar. I could imagine some of her songs drenched in reverb and backed by strings. Gritty at times, more melodic at others, she has a lovely voice.

Kerr Mercer came on stage just after 9pm to a huge reception from the crowd packed into Tuts. I immediately recognised set opener Jealous from the Poetry Club. Mercer started with his deep soulful voice for the verse and then soared effortlessly into a flowing chorus. It was the first of many songs that I could imagine being a single and hearing it on the radio.

Carry Me Home was another. Mercer leaves a lot of space in this song, which, at times, has an almost gospel feel to it. Rich in soul and feeling. With only Mercer's electric piano and voice, it packed a punch and could become a real favourite of mine. 

With no music released online, I'm still getting to know (or guessing) Kerr's song titles. Happy to Hurt was another song that leapt out at me. The recognition from the Poetry Club assisted by the excellent King Tuts sound system.

Kerr's confidence was highlighted when he said he would play a brand new song, Lyla, that he had written only the week before. There was a funny and beautiful moment when he forgot the first line and had to go back to his piano. Thankfully his manager got the demo on his phone and let him hear it, so we could get a song literally hot off the press.

Mercer joked of playing slow ballads and then even sadder slower ballads, but everyone was under his spell. There is a warmth in the melancholy. The lyrics, voice and melodies connected with people. The falls or little drops and pauses followed by soaring rises can be breathtaking, while Kerr's whole down-to-earth manner made us all feel part of a very special evening.

With no music released, Kerr played Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran and encouraged people to sing-a-long if they knew the words. A number of people did and his performance with just piano and vocals was stunning. I wasn't aware of this song and after listening to it today, I was pretty amazed at the way Kerr transformed it. Lyrically, it is a beautiful song, but Mercer added some soul. 

Back to Kerr's own growing collection of songs though! Someone to Miss has a chorus that goes on and on, dropping, then coming back in with extra force. Her aches in all the right ways and the aforementioned Guess I Flew To Close To The Sun was stunning. 

Kerr was able to leave his piano and guitar to the side for closer One In A Million as he was joined by his friend on acoustic guitar. It was another gem, the perfect way to end a show which perfectly encapsulated Mercer's phenomenal talent as a songwriter and performer.

Kerr announced his next headline show during his set. He plays the beautiful Saint Luke's on Tuesday 1st October. Look out for this young talent, he is going places ... fast!

Gruff Rhys at Saint Lukes

Photo by Alan Clarke

Spring was in the air in Glasgow yesterday, Monday 19th February. The day felt lighter and brighter, perhaps it was just a co-incidence that Gruff Rhys was in town, but then again, I imagine that he brings a warm glow wherever he goes.

Gruff was playing Saint Luke's to promote Sadness Sets Me Free, the 25th album of his remarkable career, taking in Super Furry Animals, collaborations, side projects and his solo material. There is no sign, or danger, that Rhys is going to slow down. 

The sold out Saint Luke's basked in Gruff's warm glow, marvelling at his natural creative energy, inventive way with lyrics, ideas, stories and melodies coupled with his beautiful voice. 

Backed by a crack 4-piece; drums (nicely positioned side on - the drummer was sensational), double bass/bass, keyboards/electric piano and synth/mellotron, Gruff switched between a couple of acoustics and an electric guitar, dressed in a GR logistics lab coat. 

Although we're only in February, I can safely say that Sadness Sets Me Free will be one of my albums of the year. Recorded in only 3-days in a studio on the outskirts of Paris, the timescale (almost 'forced' upon Gruff when his friend let him know he had time available) ensures that there is a lovely warm feel throughout. 

Rhys is aided by his crack band of Osian Gwynedd (piano), V Williams (double bass) and Kilph Sturrock (drums). Kate Stables from This Is The Kit added backing vocals and the wonderful strings and orchestration was added back in Wales. BOOM!

Photo by Alan Clarke

Opening with album closer I'll Keep Singing, title track Sadness Sets Me Free and latest single Bad Friend, highlighted the confidence and belief that Rhys has in his new songs. He even stopped and started Bad Friend, highlighting the way he just changes how he plays the same chords for different sections.

When Gruff sings in his native Welsh it only highlights his way with melodies and knack for a pop hook. Pang! was delightful, everyone was smiling - onstage and in the crowd.

I Tendered My Resignation is Gruff singing about his regret of cutting off a relationship too early, seemingly just because he was too young. I love how unique Gruff's songwriting is. Rhys really just lets his mind and imagination wander, resulting in dreamy psychedelic lyrics and melodies. His tight rhythm section allowed the rest of the band to flourish and I got lost in some of Gruff's guitar riffs.

Sometimes doing the right thing

Is the opposite of doing the right thing

Sometimes it's the wrong thing

And doing the right thing isn't doing the right thing

Earlier on I spoke of Gruff having a warm glow and in his new song They Sold My Home To Build A Skyscraper he sings keep on glowing in the dark in a refrain at the end. Good advice. This is one of my favourites on the album, the opening line (the title) is just so off the cuff, slightly bizarre, beautifully unique ... and everything just flows from there. I particularly love Gruff's voice and melody on this as he comments on how everything is being built on, or modernised - including the fact that there is now a luxury development on the site of the dancefloor where he met a love.

They're building malls up to the moon

But even space ran out of room

Towards the end, Gruff's drummer paused proceedings to come to centre stage to announce that Gruff would shred all the emotional worries that people wrote down and put in a box at the merch stand before the show. It was typically offbeat humour with a warm edge (glow).

Photo by Lorna Templeton

Gruff's Babelsberg album is a big favourite of mine, so I was delighted that he played Negative Vibes towards the end of the show (setlist below - my friend Lorna got). There was no time for an encore, Gruff and co kept playing, with Rhys having time to hold up signs for applause, tax the rich, sadness sets me free and more.

What a brilliant night. Rhys is a wonderful singer, songwriter and performer and his band are magnificent. I hope they will be back in Glasgow again before the end of the year.

Photo by Lorna Templeton

25 years of Badly Drawn Boy

Last nights Badly Drawn Boy show in the wonderful setting of Saint Lukes was an absolute treat.

Badly Drawn Boy (AKA Damon Gough) is touring to celebrate 25-years of releasing music. His first 2 albums as Badly Drawn Boy were on constant rotation when Lynn and I started dating, so we snapped up tickets as soon as they came on sale. A chance to celebrate 22-years since we started going out!

We usually like to venture upstairs in Saint Lukes to get a good view of everything, however after meeting friends for a drink in the bar, all the good spaces were snapped up. However we could look down and see some space right at the front. So that's where we ventured.

Armed with drinks, we managed to squeeze through the crowds that always hang back to be in the second row and there was a decent amount of space. 

We caught the end of Craig John Davidson who had been asked to support. Craig ended with a lovely story of him buying Have You Fed The Fish? in an Aberdeen record shop as a 15 year old because of the cover. Davidson fell for Badly Drawn Boy and was inspired to start playing guitar. A lovely story and Davidson's set was well received.

As we waited on the main act, my friend Joe pointed out there were no drums onstage. There were a couple of keyboards, an acoustic and an electric guitar.

Badly Drawn Boy came on stage at 8.30pm promptly, not looking to dissimilar to the first time I saw him back at the QMU in Glasgow many years ago. This time it was fresh orange that he was swigging, rather than a bottle of Jack Daniels.

A bottle of water and a Rubix Cube (that sadly remained untouched through the gig) sat on a small table next to the main mic.

Gough started strumming his guitar and introduced his first song Shake The Rollercoaster. We didn't miss a drummer, we didn't miss a band. For almost 2-hours were were under the spell of Badly Drawn Boy. 

I imagined that this was Damon's version of Springsteen's Broadway residency. Stories were told, songs were sung, any resemblance of a setlist was abandoned as requests were rewarded and Gough told us how the Glasgow audience always made him feel at home.

Damon had the audience laughing at many of his stories, while others had us wondering if we had something in our eyes. This Song was written for, and dedicated to, a friend that went missing, never to return. The set ended with a beautiful piano rendition of Someday by The Strokes, dedicated to Damon's older brother Simon who sadly died 18-months ago. 

Most of the set saw Damon at the centre of the stage armed only with his trusty acoustic guitar. The melodies and grooves he created were gorgeous. Occasionally a loop pedal was used to sublime effect. 

Highlights? Well, the whole set was tremendous. And I'm sure Damon could have played another hour or two. The fact that you could have heard a pin drop throughout was testament to how engaged the audience were. 

But a few for me were;

The Shining, Gough beautifully picking and strumming his guitar, his naturally melancholic voice singing warm sun, warm sun, warm sun over and over again was simply gorgeous.

A wander over to one of the keyboards/electronic pianos had Damon starting and then stopping Have You Fed The Fish? before the audience encouraged him to keep going. 

It's one of my favourite Badly Drawn Boy songs. I love the mundane lines I need a new eiderdown, I want some binoculars balanced against the philosophical hook (beautifully sung by the audience last night);

sometimes you've got to, rewind to go forward

there's some, good times, around the corner

And then back to the day-to-day life but have you fed the fish today? 

Stories of going to Matador Records office in New York, seeing posters around Manchester with his name (but were they only up on the route he walked?), missing a couple of Peel sessions he was asked to play, and having All Possibilities used in a Comet advert were brilliant.

Pissing In The Wind tugged on heartstrings, the audience gently backed Damon on the stunning chorus.

Just give me something

I'll take nothing

Silent Sigh was a big song for me and my wife Lynn when we started going out. The way Gough plays the piano makes it look like he can create melodies out of thin air. Maybe he can. There was certainly evidence on display last night to indicate that he can!

You Were Right was vintage BDB; funny, flowing, a tinge of sadness, pop culture references, stunning melodies and the beautiful question do the colours of the rainbow look the same to everyone?

And there were more stories of loved ones that were lost; Caroline Aherne, who Gough got to know through soundtracking The Fattest Man In Britain and Tony Wilson who Damon wrote Tony Wilson Said about on his last album.

The soundtrack totally passed me by and I've been listening to it today. And do you know what? I think Badly Drawn Boy can create beautiful heart warming melodies from thin air.

Magic was in the air last night. I do hope that Damon might return to Glasgow for another show. After all, he did say he had worked up 80 songs in advance of the tour. 

Silent Sigh

Trust Me #50
Silent Sigh by Badly Drawn Boy

Badly Drawn Boy is playing Saint Lukes in Glasgow next month (Wednesday 29th March) as part of a tour to celebrate 25-years of releasing music.

I've really enjoyed revisiting his back catalogue ahead of the show and I'll aim to blog on his brilliantly eclectic debut Bewilderbeast, a real lofi masterpiece, and the lush melodic follow up About A Boy in the future. They are two albums I adore.

But in the meantime I thought I'd write about Silent Sigh, the lead single lifted from About A Boy. 

Silent Sigh was a big song for me and my girlfriend (now wife) back in 2002 when it came out. We both bought Damon's first two albums, so regardless of who's flat we were in, his music really soundtracked the first year or so of our relationship. I've still got a compilation CD I made for Lynn around this time with Silent Sigh on it.

Melodies pour effortlessly out of Silent Sigh; in the instrumentation and in Damon Gough's gorgeous voice. I find it such a soothing song to listen to.

I've often half joked that you could give Damon Gough an elastic band and he'd get a tune out of it. Actually no joke, I'd love to hear what he could do!

Badly Drawn Boy didn't only have melodies pouring out of him, he was super prolific, releasing a trilogy of EP's through 1997-1998 and then some singles that led towards the release of Bewilderbeast on XL/Twisted Nerve in 2000.

I vaguely remember an NME/Melody Maker feature from around this time where people turned up to see a live performance and Gough had an old TV with videos of him playing. He was always different, staying clear of the hype. 

Gough then released two albums in 2002. The About A Boy soundtrack and Have You Fed The Fish?  There have been a further 6 since then.

Live, Badly Drawn Boy was utterly brilliant. The first time I caught him was at the QMU where he came on stage swigging from a bottle of Jack Daniels, proceeding to get wrecked, climbing on top of amps one moment, playing beautifully tender acoustic or piano ballads the next. On one song he played the top part of the piano while a band member played the bottom. I couldn't take my eyes off him.

Second time, at the Barrowland, he was even more wrecked and had to be taken offstage for some strong coffee to try and get him to  sober up. A photo of his kid was projected on to a big screen to help. I think he was really struggling being on tour and away from his family. 

However he was brilliant. My sister Carla was at this show with me and caught his sweaty towel when he threw it in the crowd at the end. She left it in the bathroom when we got home and our Mum used it the next morning. She was pretty disgusted when she found it it was Badly Drawn Boy's used towel from the Barrowland! Carla and I still laugh at this story. ;-)

But back to Silent Sigh. A warm melodic piano riff leads to beats, Damon singing ooohh aaahh and then a tumbling vocal melody comes in.

Come see what we all talk about

People moving to the moon

Silent Sigh never feels rushed, although the aforementioned tumbling vocal melody does have a sense of urgency to it, as it if it just spilling out of Gough. The pace is perfect, the piano riff, beats, bass and vocal melody are beautifully layered. The first verse is repeated with the introduction of backing vocals to harmonise with Damon, who then just keeps it going, sounding like he is utterly in the zone, lost in the melody, groove and music. 

I can listen to Silent Sigh on repeat, lost in the melodies and its beauty. I could listen to the piano melody for hours on end, it's so warm and gorgeous. And Damon's voice is heartwarming. Genius. 

Silent Sigh video

Silent Sigh live on Later with Jools

Silent Sigh live at T in the Park

A list of all previous songs I've blogged about in my Trust Me feature are listed below, along with links to each blog. Silent Sigh join them.

I've also collated them all into a playlist on Spotify that you can find by searching for Everything Flows - Trust Me , or you can CLICK HERE

Previous Trust Me blogs

1. Something On Your Mind by Karen Dalton

1A. Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells

2. I Am, I Said  by Neil Diamond

3. Where's The Playground Susie?   by Glen Campbell

4. If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lighfoot

5. Gimme Some Truth by John Lennon

6. Gone With The Wind Is My Love by Rita and the Tiaras

7. In The Year 2525 by Zager and Evans

8. The Music Box by Ruth Copeland

9. The Ship Song by Nick Cave

10. Sometimes by James

11. I Walk The Earth by King Biscuit Time

12. Didn't Know What I Was In For by Better Oblivion Community Centre

13. When My Boy Walks Down The Street by The Magnetic Fields

14. The Man Don't Give A F**k by Super Furry Animals

15. All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun by Jeff Buckley and Liz Fraser

16. Are You Lookin' by The Tymes

17. A Real Hero by College & Electric Youth

18. Feelings Gone by Callum Easter

19. Sunday Morning by The Velvet Underground

20. Did I Say by Teenage Fanclub

21. Don't Look Back by Teenage Fanclub

22. Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From by Teenage Fanclub

23. Belfast by Orbital

24. Clouds by The Jayhawks

25. Dreaming Of You by The Coral

26. Everlasting Love by Love Affair

27. Walk Away Renee by The Left Banke

28. Teenage Kicks by The Undertones

29. Shaky Ground by Sneeze

29. Rill Rill by Sleigh Bells

30. I Can Feel Your Love by Felice Taylor

31. The State We're In by The Chemical Brothers w/ Beth Orton

32. Sunshine After The Rain by Ellie Greenwich

33. Losing My Edge by LCD Soundsystem

34. Mondo 77 by Looper

35. Les Fleurs by Minnie Riperton

36. Rat Trap by The Boomtown Rats

37. How High by The Charlatans

38. I Can't Let Go by Evie Sands

39. Pop Song 89 by R.E.M.

40. Summertime Clothes by Animal Collective

41. There She Goes by The Las

42. We're Going To Be Friends by White Stripes

43. Autumn Sweater by Yo La Tengo

44. Sister Rena by Lomond Campbell

45. Revolution by The Beatles

46. Lazarus by The Boo Radleys

47. Wrote For Luck by Happy Mondays

48. American Trilogy by The Delgados

49. Loser by Beck 

James Grant, Norman Blake & Bernard Butler at Celtic Connections

 

I'm still basking in the warm glow generated by Sunday night's Celtic Connections show in the wonderful setting of Saint Luke's in Glasgow. Everyone attending was especially glad of the warm glow when they left the venue into howling wind and pouring rain!

Three incredible songwriters and musicians are behind my good feelings. James Grant, Norman Blake and Bernard Butler were brought together by the FRETS team in a kind of songwriting circle environment.

The trio lined up across the stage, each taking it in turn to tell the story behind the song they were about to play, before all 3 would then play the song. Their banter was genuinely hilarious. James Grant - total deadpan, Norman Blake - surreal comedy stories and Bernard Butler - just about keeping up with it all.

Picture by Neil MacAllister

Brilliant banter and stunning songwriting. Grant kicked it all off, discussing how they wanted to be billed, rhyming off their names in various orders before declaring his personal favourite - Grant, Blake & Butler.

Looking resplendent in cowboy shirt and with super sleek hair, Grant started with State Of Art, laying down a marker to his friends. Norman followed with I Don't Want Control Of You, although he couldn't remember what album it was on. I particularly love this song when it is stripped back, the heartfelt meaning of the lyrics shines that little brighter. Butler then played Although, demonstrating a strong and soulful voice along with his impeccable guitar playing.

Butler's hair was impeccable too. Thick and long, he continually flicked it from his eyes, only for it to fall immediately back again. My wife and friend Lorna swooned. 

Yes, the euphoric single that Bernard wrote and released with David McAlmont in 1995 was my highlight of the night. Butler highlighted his friends incredible vocal, going on to say there was no chance he was even going to try and replicate it. The trio went on to deliver a rich and soulful version, with Blake and Grant providing excellent backing vocals at the end.

Thanks to Derek Kirwan for capturing it HERE but please check this rip roaring version from Later with Jools recorded back in the day - simply sensational. Whoever was on after them must have been thinking .... what the ....

Norman introduced Teenage Fanclub's seminal debut single by saying he had recently found the test pressing up in his parents loft,  the trio played a beautiful kind of Teenage Fanclub Have Lost It version. Afterwards, Bernard spoke with genuine affection for a moment when he was invited on stage to play Everything Flows with Teenage Fanclub in London, just before he left Suede. It was his favourite song then and his favourite song now. He made a little joke about knowing the direction he wanted to go in, before playing a beautiful version of The Wild Ones. Bernard also highlighted he was still using the same guitar from that very night.

Grant oozed confidence throughout. I'm not very familiar with his work at all, but I'll be digging into it over the months ahead. His songs were first class, Last Ship On The River (with Love and Money) was really beautiful.

I didn't expect to hear Norman stripping back The Concept, but, with the help of James and Bernard, he delivered a beautiful version, complete with long outro. Butler's guitar playing was exquisite.

After a rapturous reception and clamour for an encore (three more tunes, three more tunes) Grant, Blake & Butler closed with their three voices and guitars gelling on Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl, with Grant highlighting Young's stance against Spotify through the week.

I do hope FRETS brings this trio together again. I do hope the sound engineer recorded the gig! Check the full setlist below. This was a real treat of a show.

Yard Act - The Overload

Every so often I invite a friend to write a guest blog. It's been a while. But at the weekend I asked my friend Simon to write a review of The Overload, the debut album by Yard Act.

I'd been trying to get tickets for their forthcoming show at Mono in March after falling for their song Fixer Upper. Mono is sold out. 

Simon posted about the album in a beautifully thoughtful and poetic manner, so I asked if he would be up for writing a blog. Simon was, but it might take a couple of weeks cause he was super busy. Fine, no rush, no worries.

And then Simon's stunning review arrived in my inbox as I was lying listening to the album last night. 

Perfect timing. Perfectly written.

I hope it's perfect timing for you too. Read on for Simon's review and details about Yard Act's recently announced winter 2022 tour when they'll be back in Glasgow at Saint Lukes. 

Guest blog by Simon Stuart

You'll be hearing a lot about Yard Act in 2022. You'll keep on reading about sprechgesang and sprechstimme, Pulp, The Streets and most of all The Fall, and, just like the ones you're reading here, those words may or may not be worthwhile. And when The Overload wins the awards that will inevitably rain down upon it, there will be so much more breathless prose - perhaps some backlash too, from the duller witted wing of the cultural commentariat - that some of you might already be switching off in anticipation. As the kind of cynical mid-forties iconoclast for whom 'yes but Mark E Smith was doing that in 1978' has become a watchword over the past four decades: I hear you. I really do.

But please listen, and listen well, because this record matters. If it's the hipster dish du jour, it's also so much more: a piece of work that arrives so fully formed that its scope, its ambition, its sheer bloody humanity might be easily missed. All the jagged, twitchy Fall-ings, the majestic abrasive PIL-aging, the wryly self-referential Cocker-ness: sure, these are four young men who know the past 40-plus years of left-field indie inside-out. (And I don't think it's a coincidence that the album shares a name with Talking Heads' most apocalyptic moment.)

But I don't think any of that matters, either. While the likes of me can pore over this as a perfectly postmodern example of what guitar music can be, it's also the first great post-Brexit record; the first I've heard that reckons with the sheer bloody absurdity of where we are right now by holding up a mirror and saying: this is it, folks, this is it ... but can you see that tiny flash of hope there too? Over the course of its 37-minutes, The Overload's initial fury abates yet then expands - reflected in a very subtle augmentation of the instrumentation - and while it would easily have been enough to end the record with the majestic Tall Poppies (we are, all of us, flawed and constrained, and here are the acts of life, death and songwriting itself laid brutally bare), Yard Act keep on driving on, the pissed perspective-talking of Pour Another paving the way for the deathless gasp of 100% Endurance, a song which is nothing more or less a desperate howl for kindness in a burning world; an exquisitely audacious concept that exposes the simplest, most beautiful truths. Everything that came before it leads to this moment, and this moment points to everything else, no matter how big or small.

I have no idea how Yard Act follow this record; what they do next. No matter. As they put it so perfectly themselves at the end: it's not like there's going to be nothing, is it?

Pour Another live version

Tall Poppies live on Later

Yard Act play a sold out show at Mono on 3rd March and have recently announced a show at Saint Lukes on 22nd November. Acts fast for tickets.