Special guests tonight were local collective Low Red Moon who have been described as Texas desert pop and swirly psychedelia come Psy-Fi Americana and a shoe in for the role of ‘Twin Peaks’ house band! They released an album `Compañeros` which translates to Companions or Friends in 2022. This evening the band were a six piece with Becky a new recruit on sax who admirably played her debut show.
The band shared a forty minute set which included the thumping `Fluid`, a section where Sean Thompson-Dewolfe joined to share some political poetry that seemed to address some issues with the situation of sectarianism and the British governments role in Northern Ireland. There was a new song with `Bella` which started slowly before becoming much more intense and taking off. A song that seemed to be about Roy Orbison but was never made clear and `Full Wolf Moon` with howling and Sean Thompson-Dewolfe adding poetry again on route. Singer and guitarist Kaytee Dewolfe`s vocals for me gave the band an at times feel of early Jefferson Airplane. They have a show at the Night Owl in Digbeth with Modern Literature on April 6th which I’m sure will be well worth supporting.
I can`t remember the last time I saw My Life Story, but it was some years ago. The band have recently released `Loving You Is Killing Me,’ their fifth studio album, and it`s a belter. The John Barry theme tune to 1971`s action adventure series The Persuaders rings out as the band John, Chris, Toni, and Jamie followed by main man Jake Shillingford arrive on stage and open with `Tits And Attitude` from the latest release.
It`s back to 1993 for the superb sixties tinged earworm of `Motorcade`, 2019`s `Broken` from the ‘World Citizen’ album and 1999`s `If You Can’t Live Without Me Then Why Aren’t You Dead Yet?` before coming up for air.
We enjoy a couple of tracks from the latest release with the poptastic `Running Out of Heartbeats` which is similar to what astronaut Neil Armstrong said when asked why he wasn`t utilising his fame instead of farming potatoes and `Numb Numb Numb` where Jake instructs us in a dance which includes pointing here, there, and everywhere. Other highlights tonight were the heartbreaking `Walk/Don’t Walk`, a stunning rendition of `Sparkle` before closing out with `#NoFilter`
Jake was left alone with Toni on keys to play stripped back versions of `Bubblewrap` a dark song about coercive behaviour and `You Can’t Uneat the Apple` a break up song which the singer is surprised by the number of people who still get married to it.
The rest of the band return for the final numbers of `Naked` a track that brought to mind The Banana Splits `The Tra La La` song and marvellous `12 Reasons Why I Love Her` with harpsicord intro which closed out this magnificent eighty minute set.
Tonight was a masterclass in how to entertain and captivate an audience from thanking Reece the sound man for an on stage sound that the band were impressed with to some amazing songs, anecdotes, and delightful wit.
It`s easy to say that if you`ve been in the business for thirty years you should be good but so may just aren`t.
This was an entertaining eighty minutes that filled you with a warm glow inside before sending you off into a dark, dreary, and cold night.
Thank you Jake, let`s hope it`s not too long before we see you again.
