It's not every day when you go see a doom-jazz trio named for a character in a Dostoevsy novel. But it DOES happen. Obviously.
VENUE: ST. VINCENT'S CHAPEL, EDINBURGH
Line-up:
R: DENHAM: A regular on FUZZ BAT gig line-ups, but the first time for me. One man and his table of knobs and switches, making noises which only occasionally approach something like 'music'. It's like the soundtrack of an apocalyptic science fiction movie or video game, eerie and unsettling, but fascinating and hypnotic. Insectile rustlings and scrapings, visceral moans, and ominous clangs like the sound of something trying to get in. Distorted music from a mis-tuned radio echoing around the corridors of a derelict space-ship, or submarine. Great stuff.
DARSOMBRA: Last time I saw Baltimore's 'trans-apocalyptic galaxy rockers' Darsombra, some 12 years ago, keyboardist and lighting designer/operator Ann Everton was beavering away somewhere at the back of Bannerman's, and I thought it was just a solo dude on guitar. I was mistaken, and now she's out, front and - nearly- centre. Anyway, there they are, dressed entirely in white, all the better for blending in with the psychedelic projections. A band that NEEDS to be photographed in full colour.
STINKING LIZAVETA: The aforementioned doom-jazz trio, from Philadelphia, USA. for those who need to know, and can't use Google, 'Stinking Lizaveta was a character in Dostoevsky's 'The Brothers Karamazov', small, grubby, mute and a bit 'eccentric'. Make of that what you will.
Bass player Alexei normally wields an electric stand-up bass, but is using something a little more 'normal' tonight for some reason, perhaps respecting the nice wooden church floor.
Playing as they are in the unhelpful church lighting, I am forced to use flash for pics, which is something I rarely do because it annoys people.
By the way, I really like St. Vincent's as a venue. It's a nice size and the acoustics are, as one might expect from an old church, excellent. I would, however, like it more if there were a few lights out front.
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