There’s these patterns being projected on the walls of one of the more intimate – I am, as always, cursed with politeness - corners of The Arches. Perhaps they have deeper meaning or perhaps there is some religious significance but, for now, I just want to shoot at them. Time, thankfully, for a distraction.
Four in a huddle with a drum machine impersonating a metronome leading them down the path to retro head band territory, OSC assaulted the senses with cheesy disco lights, minimalist synth sounds mumbled vocals and reverb laden three chords and a sneeze guitars. In other words, it was back to the future time again and, with a cunning plan to continually reinvent one song, their aim was most likely not to entrance but to hypnotise.
Talking of entrancement takes me neatly to Rachel Zeffira. Her music is a subtle thing indeed and, to draw a poetic parallel, her short set wandered lonely as a cloud that floated on high. It takes some not inconsiderable skill to create songs that appear neither to start nor to stop but to simply exist as if they have always been there only you never actually noticed them before. Her classical training undoubtedly helped by adding an elegant sophistication to the lost soul that begat her words and, even with diversions into an ethereal Beatles cover and a Cat’s Eye of an encore, Rachel Zeffira provided plenty of evidence that she walks the walk and talks the talk of lost love and fairy tales.
As silence falls and they start stacking the chairs, reality inevitably intrudes but, thanks to the early finish, there’s still time for another six for the road. Job done as they say.