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Playing to a near capacity Metro crowd, Big Scary took the stage in support of the ambitious Midlake for a brief warm up of laidback minimalist sounds. There wasn’t anything Big or Scary about their music, but it was amazing to see their songs move slower than turtles, but be louder and more dramatic than stampeding elephants. Incredible piano playing with some higher range Jeff Buckley singing drifted a little towards the electronica period of Radiohead. Most of the songs seemed like fairy tales with an almost lullaby-like quality to them. It was a dynamic mixture by the two virtuosos, who both took care of the vocal duties with one on piano, and the other on drums and occasional guitar.
Big Scary are a solid example of how effective music can be made with limited instrumentation - the crowd responded well to them, which wasn’t surprising since most of the songs had immediate appeal to them. It was really that piano-playing that did it for me though, even if at times it did feel like a music recital.
Midlake didn’t need any other supports, their line-up seemed to be overwhelming enough to tie the people over. Hailing from Denton, Texas the six piece looked like a group of woodchucks and their music sounded quite appropriate to their homeland. The dual-flute playing could have driven some mad but, if you’ve
ever been a fan of Ian Anderson and his merry band Jethro Tull, you’d be having one hell of a time. My friend and I were convinced that a lot of their songs, melodies and arrangements sounded like “Sucide is Painless”, the theme song to MASH. Which isn’t a bad thing. Playing songs from their three albums, including this years The
Courage of Others, their sound has a very classic rock feel to it, in the tradition of some of the song writing greats Fleetwood Mac and Cosby, Stills and Nash. Lead singer Tim Smith claimed they band were weary as to whether or not they could pull a crowd, but all they had to do was look at the fully packed Metro audience to realise they had done it with ease. Ripping through a few of their fan favourites like “Young Bride”, “Bandits” and “Balloon Maker” most of the members had a pretty reserved stage manner, with the gentle grin in between songs.
“We’ve put on a few pounds since we saw you last”, Smith claimed. But it didn’t matter, primitive hermits should be slightly overweight with beards and flannelettes its much more authentic. Midlake play a uniquely American sound, and their latest album is a further progression into some dark areas of the country, yet expressing them in sometimes the lightest of ways. Their live sets are just as ambitious and intense as their recordings.
