Andrew Valentine

Prog-folk eh? What a genre. Not one with enough column inches dedicated to it for my liking though. Well fear not, gentle reader! Allow us to devote some digital air time to local buccaneer Kopek, an improbably young looking lad trading in a diverse brand of the the prog stuff.

No need to worry, we’re not talking Jethro Tull here. The sound filled out by two multi-instrumentalists, Kopek ebb and flow nicely, with some extended, dextrously played musical passages impressing with their subtlety. It’s occasionally over wrought, singer Marcus’ keening vocals striving for a sense of drama that the songs’ minimal arrangements don’t allow for. Indeed, the sparse arrangements, songs elaborated around undeviating, drum machine based grooves, leave little room for any variation of pace. That is, until the freaking’ marvellous last song, where a solid breakbeat and wonderful, Efterklang-ish horns collide in a lively, fun packed tune, the loop based second half, with its regal melodies and counter melodies, bringing the set to a triumphant close. One last thing though; Marcus Kopek seems to be able to sing, really sing, without actually having to ever open his mouth. Consider yourselves forewarned.

Forewarning is probably necessary for those interested in Tom Denney’s new outfit, Lonely Ghosts. Shorn of the obnoxious righteousness of his day job, Lonely Ghosts are a lighter, poppier offering. But then, that’s entirely the point, and as such the band are a far more user friendly proposition. Skirting from gentle pop-folk to some all ravin’, all dancin’ glam fuzz, it’s clear Denney has the songs to warrant the diversion, something of a necessity given that HSCS are hardly lacking in the tune department. They’re not fully fleshed out as a live band yet, and it’s kind of disconcerting to see a four piece making pretty unnecessary use of a sequencer, but ‘Bones Are Shaking’ is such a chorus heavy, ass grabber of a dance floor fillah that such transgressions go overlooked. Ones to watch then.

Casiotone’s Owen Ashworth is a more unassuming kind of guy. Taking to the stage in a corduroy jacket, he looks every inch the reputed lapsed intellectual chronicler of the sadly humorous and the humorously sad. Live, there’s not a great deal of visual flair, the set being just Ashworth poking (what is only visible to the audience as) a big bank of flashing lights, but he does a nice line in stage banter, and is far “groovier” than on record. The rhythm track to his ‘Streets of Philadelphia’ cover is a bass heavy churn, whilst elsewhere he throws some pleasantly glitchy flourishes into the mix, lending older songs like ‘Jeanne, If You’re Ever In Portland’ a rewarding randomness. This is something he doesn’t really exploit enough, and as a result the second half of the set drags, the mix of straightforward synth pop and bittersweet narrative tiring with little in the way of live danger to support it. Get a band, perhaps? There’s little doubt he’d benefit from one.

A literally gruff performer (he coughs, a lot), he’s still confident enough to play the demo version of “hit” ‘New Year’s Kiss’, bereft of the original’s big, Coldplay-spooning piano hook. But it needn’t be this way, Owen! As much as we all appreciate your economical aesthetic, Dylan didn’t stay acoustic, Radiohead didn’t stay crap and Michael Jackson didn’t stay white. To paraphrase, mix it up, start again.

Kopek have a CD available through their Myspace.

Lonely Ghosts have a split 7”, featuring Gay Against You, and can be ordered from OIB Records.

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone have recently released ‘Town Topic,’ a 7” only EP of songs written for the Laurel Nakadate film “Stay The Same Never Change.”It’s also available through OIB Records.

Comment on this article