The name Man/Woman/Chainsaw conjures up an act who would be comfortable as part of the Jim Rose Circus sideshow but as they say never judge a book by the cover and MWC are in essence a London based Post punk indie art rock sextet. The band released their debut album `Canyons` about six weeks ago to critical acclaim.
The show in Brum tonight is sold out and there a real anticipation as the lights dim and this six piece walk on stage with 50 Cent`s `In Da Club` pumping through the pa.
The band kick off with `Only Girl` a love song with Vera Leppänen heading up the vocals and some delightful strings from Clio Starwood, a number for me that had a delightful almost chaotic atmosphere. The rhythmic `The Thing` with its repeated chorus line of “It ain’t a thing to me” follows with Billy Ward`s vocals leading us along on this fairly hypnotic listen. `Canyons` is much more reflective with violin hues that give it an almost haunting texture. There`s a wonderful interplay between vocalists Billy Ward and Vera Leppänen on the faster paced `Adam & Steve`.
The band share that its nice to play the big room here at the Hare as they offer the fleeting `Snakebite` which has a real fragility almost vulnerability about it along with `Get Up and Dance` which begins delicately then becomes harder, not aggressive but robust with a kind of urgency about it. The wonderfully titled `Goddam, Lizard Man!` is a further entrancing listen while `Still Angry` live has a kind of tribal beat and becomes pretty folk like.
`Flick of the Wrist` is more jagged when shared live with its accusatory line “I know what you did” but there`s a real change of pace with `Lighter` and `Ode To Clio` the former with its tinkling piano keys from Emmie-Mae Avery which radiates a jazzy late night vibe whereas the latter brought to mind Joni Mitchell before it raced off giving it a strange light and dark ambience.
The back straight offers the shimmering `Something Else to Give` a really interesting and faithful cover of The Breeders classic `Cannonball` before leaving us with the synth led `Nosedive` while encouraging everyone to dance. It`s a song about longing for both comfort and freedom simultaneously in a relationship through the metaphor of being an injured bird needing shelter. It became a kind of band jam with everybody joining in on this slice of organised confusion which included cowbells.
Man/Woman/ Chainsaw are a bit of an enigma musically and what I really enjoyed was the variety of musical influences shared throughout this hour long set which covered the new release in its entirety along with a few older tunes. Vera, Billy, Clio, and Emmie-Mae are almost the visual entity of this outfit but guitarist Billy Doyle and drummer Lola Cherry are the unobtrusive rhythmic powerhouse of the band. Tonight`s show was marvellously enticing and having moved from the smaller room to the main room within twelve months, I felt tonight that the band had outgrown this venue and would look for a setting that would suit their growing and expanding stature.
I discovered this morning that the sextet have a nine date tour pencilled in for next May which includes a show at The Castle & Falcon in Birmingham which has double the capacity of tonight`s venue. This also may be the final opportunity to witness this band in such an intimate venue.
