On a night forecast for the emotional seas, local troubadour and future curator of the ‘Women are mint’ festival, Martha Hill, warms us up by steadying tonight’s ship with delightful acoustic symphonies. Highlights ‘Ride my bike’ and ‘Let me down’ exemplify a style of song writing that is as much about creating a vehicle for Hill to express herself as much as it is about providing an opportunity for deep introspections. Hill’s on stunning form this evening, which provides a much needed set up for the hugely emotive Mesadorm and their, current, acoustic form. Minimalist from the start, the beauty of tonight’s show can be found in Mesadorm’s ability to strip their traditional electric form right down to their classical structures; most prominently piano, percussion, cello and haunting vocals. Acoustic and gentle, the current arrangements of previous work provide an extra emotional weight to narratives already dripping in the regret and longing-ness which come from exploring themes of dysfunctional families, heartbreak and the trappings of consumerism. Yet whilst recreations of existing tracks are all perfectly delivered it may be new track ‘More than a moment’ which steals the evening with its Beach Boys ‘Smile’ era ability of mixing innocent narratives about childhood with optimism, interesting vocal harmonies and untraditional use of instrumentation. Risk taking at it’s finest.
