Issue 104 / October 2019

Bill Ryder-Jones (Michael Driffill / @driffyspics)
ways of the weird side. Luckily, for the unaccustomed, there’s
a wholesome and accessible exploration of the pockets of
Birkenhead surrounding the festival. WALK ON THE WEIRD
SIDE – a tongue-in-cheek walking tour taken in the company of
local historian Gavin Chappell – drinks in the history of the Priory,
the docks, its merchants and the town’s journey from prosperity
to near neglect, sweeping from the Bloom Building down to the
River Mersey, via Hamilton Square, through Woodside Ferry
Village and along the promenade. It’s a welcome break that
resets the eyes and minds shaken up by Scalping.
Saturday sees another collage of creativity, with the
intimate Priory Chapel being taken over by the electronic music
collective Emotion Wave. Their showcase of four acts is a neat
representation of what they do best. First up is Emotion Wave
main-man LO FIVE, performing tracks from his new album
Geography Of The Abyss. Lo Five creates a calming atmosphere
of lulling ambience, unfurling huge swathes of melodic resonance
that perfectly suits the monastic surroundings. BYE LOUIS
previews his debut album, The Same Boy, during his set, telling
stories and rendering the mundane sweetly poetic with songs of
everyday tribulations. Armed only with a guitar and keyboard, he
holds the audience spellbound with lo-fi pop of the most delicate
and intricate nature.
FOXEN CYN then follows with a set of darkening electro-pop
and glam theatrics. Dressed in a black lace basque, sheer black
tights, make-up and false eyelashes, Foxen Cyn is avant-garde
and experimental with a knack for composing witty electronic
pop. Dramatic and probably supernatural, he is a proper one-off,
a glitch in the matrix, who conjures tunes from the seemingly
possessed realm. POLYPORES is the final act on the Emotion
Wave showcase and his form of transcendental radiophonics is
hypnotic and meditative. There’s something about the setting and
the sonorous refrain of humming synthesizers that transports us
into the welcoming void. Polypores’ sound is one of warped tape
saturation and machine hum, chiming with ambient echoes of
transformer coils and the static charge of a post-storm downpour.
The Bloom Building reprises its role on Saturday as the home
of those acts bringing renewed mystery and excitement to guitar
rock. Canadian-British troupe POTTERY show us why the fuss
around their angular debut LP No. 1 is so justified, while new
Heavenly Recordings signings WORKING MEN’S CLUB bring the
spirit of post-punk clubbing to their ferocious set. But it’s DRY
CLEANING who are the most affecting of this band of resurgent
beatniks, Florence Shaw’s deadpan delivery of tales about sordid
hotel encounters and showbiz royalty the perfect front to the
quartet’s anxiety-ridden rocking.
BEIJA FLO offers a thrilling glimpse into the glam cabaret
she is building around her highly affecting masterclass of pop
theatrics. The planners of Birkenhead Town Hall’s Assembly
Rooms would not have foreseen it playing host to entertainment
quite like this when they designed it, but they weren’t to know
that Beija Flo was to be one of the more astute technicians of
the room’s ornate surroundings. There’s still enough time to dart
over to Birkenhead Priory to catch the hugely affecting pop-rock
star NILÜFER YANYA as the light fades. The crowd drink it all in
from their seats on the grass, with Yanya and the tower of the
Priory looming in front of them. It’s a moment of relatively relaxed
enjoyment after the hectic day that’s gone before, giving time for
pause before Saturday’s headliner takes us on yet another journey.
ANNA CALVI is an awe-inspiring presence on stage at
the Town Hall. She stands before us silhouetted against the
blood red, pulsing bank of lights and, right from the off, we are
pummelled with intense noise. Calvi’s voice sweeps throughout
the space during her headline set and her guitar roars its approval,
beckoning the now bouncing audience. It’s a two-way thing here:
her guitar is seemingly weaponised, being pushed beyond its
intended purpose. She channels Robert Plant and Janis Joplin
with supernatural ability. It’s pure shock and awe as I’ll Be Your
Man tears through the coalescing air and the audience cheer their
approval, like a group hallucination or the witnessing of an alien
encounter.
Anna Calvi is a juggernaut, jack-knifing its way down the
highway, screeching tires and shearing metal; each song is
propulsive, cacophonous, crackling the air around us, seemingly
punching holes in space and creating mini-wormholes. It seems
something bordering on alchemy to wring so much sound from so
few components.
The enormity of Future Yard and its participants hangs heavy
as there’s a stagger back to the Bloom Building to groove to Elliot
Hutchinson of Dig Vinyl’s 7” set. He is the complete DJ and his
soulful overview paints a glorious picture of The One Eyed City in
the dark.
The early hours have set in and Birkenhead is peaceful,
beautiful and fucked up. The stillness stops that being a problem,
for now. And it awaits Future Yard 2020. Coupled with the
success of the Wirral Food & Drink Festival in Birkenhead Park,
Skeleton Coast and the Fresh Goods events, we may just have
a town that is relevant and alive – regardless of what Marks &
Spencer think. !
Ian R. Abraham / @scrash
Mike Stanton / @DepartmentEss
Frankie Muslin
Dry Cleaning (Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk)
Stella Donnelly (Michael Driffill / @driffyspics)
REVIEWS 37