Oxford Live
The Inconsolable
4/11 The Phoenix, Jericho
Rarely does a solo artist convey the poignant fragility of human vicissitudes without seeming horrendously pretentious or just downright whingey, Yet Robin Allender, aka The Inconsolable, successfully manages to defy the hackneyed old conventions of the singer-songwriter mould that has become the invariable trap of today’s acoustic artists.
Dreamboat Records, an Oxford-based record-label whose other minions include the Azalea City Penis Club and The Rollercoaster Project may have presented us with the jewel in their crown this evening. Listening to The Inconsolable, one cannot help but be thrown into a kind of musical transcendence. Ironic and introspective vocals are somewhat reminiscent of Elliott Smith and hover over layer upon layer of ethereal arpeggiated guitar.
His brief modulations to the minor key present a subtle refusal of certain musical conventions that may be attributed to this genre, instead sliding into the understated, yet all-encompassing sonic-scapes in the vein of Mogwai, Slint or From Monument To Masses.
Indeed, rubato plays a greater importance than any regular time signature, and the music flows out from the restraints of bar lines and into the buzzing upstairs bar of The Phoenix, whose audience, all art-school cool (minus the arrogance) lap it up. How poignant that he muses “I seem to remember your august eyes, a forgotten joke in the Star.
This old town don’t take kindly to strangers”- is this not applicable to the idea of the intense Oxford bubble? Yet during his set, all awareness of temporal and geographical location dissolves, as tracks such as In Nature provide the musical equivalent of a zoom-out lens, removing the audience from the oft-frenetic student environment and projecting it straight into the cosmic.
It is his ability to provide such a form of escapism that is so paradoxically rooted in the real world that should render The Inconsolable an indispensable element of one’s Oxford career. Proof that sweet solace may be found in melody.
Audioscope Day One
29/10 The Zodiac
This yearly event is organised by Stuart of oxfordbands.com fame, a nonprofit exercise raising money for the homelessness charity Shelter. Among the acts were ex-Brookes band Fell City Girl, who opened the Carling Stage at Reading this year, Bullet Union from Camden, and Ivory Springer who proved between songs that you can’t mix math-rock with humour.
After a few minutes of Shooting At Unarmed Men’s set, it was clear that ex- Mclusky man was the most extreme influence in the band • while interesting and terrifyingly enthusiastic, SAUM were incredibly difficult to listen to. Data Panik followed, featuring three former Bis members, dressed almost in SS uniforms.
By the time Explosions In The Sky came on, the venue was heaving, and the variation in the six songs that filled their forty-minute was more spectacular than anyone could have imagined. Headlining above EITS was always going to be a challenge, and Four Tet failed. Acoustically, this just wasn’t the right venue for his DJing, although he kept the crowd entertained until the end of this highly successful event.
Kimya Dawson 2/11 Freud, Jericho
The Sidewalk Café it ain’t. A million miles away from the spiritual home of New York Antifolk, even as Kimya Dawson’s crowd troop in • more long hair skinny tee than long island ice tea - Freud seems an odd choice for a folk show. Yet she takes the stage with a wonderfully warmed up crowd coming forward to sit around her feet. Sporting a new mohawk, she starts by playing the first three songs of her new album.
Not many artists would open with a song about their hospitalised mother but from the moment her trademark stream of heartfelt, tightly rhymed lyrics begins, Kimya has the crowd rapt It’s not just the quality of the song writing that makes the shows so special, it’s the friendliness and intimacy that Kimya inspires. Her darkly funny songs are punctuated with Moldy Peach-esque humour, ‘Sing along! Or if you’re shy and don’t want to sing, just come and sit on my face.
Maybe Freud wasn’t such a bad choice after all...
10th Nov 2005