Anna Meredith ★★★★☆
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A neo-classical rocking minimalist and a maximalist chamber pop maestro playing on the same bill in a former tramworks: must be those elastic Celtic Connections coming in (out) to play. C Duncan took those connections to the most intimate degree with a family band which included dad Mark on violin, mum Janina on viola and uncle Steve on keyboards, delivering beautiful stripped-back renditions of his swooning indie pop tunes. Divested of his usual harmonic overdubs and elated layers, but foregrounding the breathy romance of ‘We Have A Lifetime’ and ‘The Wedding Song’ (written in lieu of a best man’s speech for his brother), and the subtle pop throwback qualities of ‘You Don’t Come Around’ and the Tom Waitsian ‘Upon The Table’.
Anna Meredith’s idiosyncratic music is like a punk Michael Nyman, all staccato arpeggios repeated at nosebleed speed, autotuned choral flourishes, and signature playful bursts of depth-charge tuba. All of this features added athletic drumming, effects-ridden guitar, and a groovy 80s aesthetic to her band’s matching outfits. This is serious music delivered with hectic humour with Meredith hammering a tom, clarinet and xylophone in short order, her guitarist using a scrunchie as the world’s softest capo to produce the juddering juggernaut rhythms of ‘Tom Cruise Runs’.
Pictures: Gem Harris
Then there’s the brilliant, bassy, inexorable march of ‘Nautilus’, plus celestial pop vocals and unabashed 80s rock guitar runs of ‘Something Helpful’ before her joyful, energetic set is rounded off with ‘some filthy cheese’ in the shape of a gleeful cover of Elton John’s ‘I'm Still Standing’, with extra references to ‘Tiny Dancer’ and ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ for good measure.
Reviewed at Tramway, Glasgow, as part of Celtic Connections.