The end of the weekend loomed but there was one last hurrah to enjoy after the shenanigans of The Termites the night before, this time in the company of the inimitable trio Keeley and their long awaited Glasgow headline show where they treated the gathered throng to their uniquely cinematic soundtrack in celebration of the short life of German backpacker on her ultimately tragic trip through Europe to Ireland.
Before Keeley it was the turn of another trio, this time led by local stalwart of the indie scene, Paul Kelly and his power pop band The Martial Arts, he was joined on stage by other luminaries of the Scottish music scene Gavin Crawford of The Supernaturals on drums and Simon Shaw of Dragged Up (and a host of others) on bass. The band were already on when we arrived having expected a slightly later stage time, but I think we caught the majority of the set of gleefully anthemic and perfectly formed power pop, including one of my personal favourites Bethany which I always think has a touch of Elvis Costello to it and Paul’s gloriously addictive and entirely relatable new between albums single about clinical depression and staying in, Seeing Double. Go check it out now and don’t judge the song by its subject matter, this is a joyously riotous tune.
The compact basement venue was reaching sweatbox levels as Keeley took to the stage, levels which would continue to rise as the shining incandescence and emotional intensity of the bands music added another tier to the temperature in the room. The trio, in addition to Keeley Moss on guitar and vocals, is completed by exuberant bass player Lukey “king of the bass face” Foxtrot and the quietly unassuming Andrew Paresi on drums, kicked off proceedings with Hungry for the Prize, the soaring and upbeat melody soundtracking Keeley’s expectant and hopeful lyrics and setting the scene for what was to come. A technical issue caused Keeley to cut Crossing Lands midway though, and after being unable to fix the issue they launched into the song with a renewed vigour, without the “tech,” and what followed was a display of consummate professionalism as they delivered the song with a potent energy and vitality.
This was a theme that continued throughout the set, probably the most intensely powerful and emotionally resonant set I’ve seen the band play to date. Keeley is an artist that is never happy to stand still, continuing to develop her band’s sound over the course of their preceding albums and EPs to reach the combination of emotional tenderness and the fervent white heat of the swirling shoegaze sound she was striving for in the latest album, a sound that transferred perfectly to the live stage enveloping you in the all-consuming soundscape. The set was mostly lifted from the latest album Girl On the Edge of the World and its companion EP Lost Magic but also included songs from Beautiful Mysterious as well as a boisterous Arrive Alive from Floating Above Everything Else. The set was carefully structured to capture the imagination of the crowd and draw us in with the gracefully hypnotic nature of the songs before building to a powerful zenith, especially when the arrival of final four songs hit the motherlode with the magnificent tribute to her muse Inga Hauser leading the pack and moving quickly into the high octane pair of Forever Froze and Arrive Alive. Just as you imagine the set can’t get any better, the band peaked perfectly with their set closer, the mellifluous driving insistence of the superb Trans-Europe 18, reaching its sonic zenith with a ferociously compelling wall of feedback, reflecting Keeley and Lukey’s love of Dublin noisenik shoegazers My Bloody Valentine, which quite frankly left left me speechless.
An accomplished and emotionally fulfilling experience.
