Music / Reviews
Review: King Creosote, The Marble Factory
Kenny Anderson has played in many different set ups over the years – as a compelling solo artist, as part of the former Fence Collective crew and with cutting edge producer Jon Hopkins. The latter won him a Mercury Prize nomination and resulted in a spine-tinglingly brilliant album of heartbreaking ballads. Here, he took to the stage with an excellent collection of seven musicians and here, he’s at his happiest.
Beaming from ear to ear, despite the off melancholic number, he bounced off his crew – the double bass, cello and violin helped to carve a massive sound, filling the semi-industrial walls of this new space next to the super club Motion. Singing almost through gritted teeth in places, King Kenny (as he’s sometimes known) put this to excellent use in Miserable Strangers.
His luscious Scottish twang broke through, especially during From Scotland With Love (how apt), where he mused: “you’ve got to rise out of the gutter you are inside”. Each song told a story, a spellbinding story – from Carry On Dancing to One Night Only, which made a well-received early appearance in the set.
Amy Mac’s impeccable vocals added a stunning depth to Kenny’s perfectly controlled tones. The Hammond keyboard gave the folk-tinged balladry some real depth and longevity.
The beat picked up a bit as the band performed Largs, making it seem more like a Grouplove concert – a bag of Californian fun, rather than a group of modest Scottish musicians. Cover of the late Demis Roussos’ Forever and Ever. Apt as he passed away last week, and well performed by the band.
The encore – for which they hid behind the kit on stage, instead of vacating alltogether – consisted of a rousing cover of the Aliens’ Happy, and even employed a bit of rowdy audience participation. The multi-faceted song took you on a journey through Elvis and The Hives to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and even Sex Pistols.
“I’m happy every day, even though I’m stuck in Fife,” said KC during this Aliens cover. And if his cute little ass wiggle was anything to go by, then this was easy to see. This was Bristol, not Fife, but the sentiment still stood.
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