Victim of the ominous ash cloud that encircled British air space last month, CTRL’s original date at Cardiff’s Arts Institute had to go ahead without star guest Controllers, Chew Lips who were stranded in Iceland. Of course, we rescheduled so that all ticket holders were able to return for the full line-up. And now here we are, the band pumping a huge cloud of dry ice into our faces. No irony intended.
First, opening act Jo Rose channels the spirit of Neil Young’s Broken Arrow ranch via Manchester, adding a drizzly pathos to the folk singer-songwriter format. Proving his chops, he steers his songs free of set-list, instead taking cues from the mood. It’s a balmy summer evening and so he even opts for an ‘upbeat’ number played in a major key, somehow imbuing it with a sense of wry reflection that recalls fellow Mancs Elbow and Cherry Ghost.
If we thought Chew Lips might steer their line-up down the Casio disco route, at this stage it’s beginning to dawn on us that there’s a much more diverse musical mind at work behind the band. Further evidence arrives in the form of Birmingham band, Malpas, whose digitally enhanced folk forms a bridge from Jo Rose into the main event. The synths pull an everything-and-the-kitchen sink approach to instrumentation (xylophone, banjo, violin, flute) back to earth and cast everything in an ominous hue. The secret weapon, though, is those multiple harmonies: worthy of Fleetwood Mac.
Finally, Chew Lips push everyone else aside, turn up the synths and let Cardiff have it. Cardiff, to their credit, responds by getting their groove on. On Wednesday night. This you’d never see in London. In fairness, it’s hard to argue when the voice leading the charge is as compelling as this. Frontwoman Tigs sucks us all into the set with charisma to spare and vocal chords that, set loose on a treacly R&B classic, would have Simon Cowell scrambling for his chequebook. Happily, there are no Mariah covers tonight, just bonafide contemporary classics like ‘Salt Air’ and ‘Play Together’. And then they’re gone, disappearing into a particularly dense cloud belched forth from the smoke machine. Cardiff, no doubt, is hoping Chew Lips get stranded again.
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