I arrived at the newly refurbished Martha Gunn for round one of it's bout to decide whether or not to host regular live music nights – it's not often a potential new venue opens it's doors in our city, despite the vibrancy of the scene, so I was keen to see what sort of a set up they were offering. I'd never been in the Martha Gunn before, having thought it was a bit of a rough pub and slightly off the beaten track. When I arrived they were still setting up the PA but the pub seemed light, warm and inviting. Opening up proceedings we had Thomas White, playing under The Fiction Aisle moniker. It's likely you might have come across White before, as he is one of the most prolific musical forces in town along with his brother Alex White, probably best known as The Electric Soft Parade or providing the guitar and drums for Brakes. Tonight Tom was playing alone with a laptop for musical accompaniment. Now, I must be honest with you, I actually play guitar in the nine-piece Fiction Aisle group, so I have a vested interest in telling you that Tom is a fantastic song-writer, an excellent singer and other such accolades. Tonight was an interesting show for me as Tom was performing a set of songs that could potentially become Fiction Aisle tracks. As such he was a little nervous to be performing an unfamiliar set of songs, with an unusual set-up in an unfamiliar (and potentially hostile) space. Ever the consummate professional none of these fears were apparent when he took to the Mic – beginning with a long drone piece where Tom held long notes over an ambient backing track.
During a particularly eerie number, which would have sounded perfect on the sound-track of a David Lynch film, I overheard the bar manager complaining to the promoter cum sound-engineer that "this isn't Saturday Night music" and “could he do something about it”?! It seemed the music was dividing the crowd between his regulars, who had squeezed themselves into a side room, and the live music fans who had come especially – a growing crowd in the centre of the pub the manager was thus far oblivious to. They'd put all sorts of restrictions on the kind of music they were going to allow in the venue, as they were worried about sound complaints, and had not expected something as avant garde as Tom was attempting this evening. As luck would have it the next song in his set list was a more pop arrangement, including a repetitive back beat and a pleasant arpeggio, enough to get the bar manager to leave them in peace. It was an interesting set of promising (if at times a little strange) material but I think I would have preferred to witness it in a more intimate setting, with more of a hushed crowd. The choice to set the performers up in what was more or less a hall space, besides the main entrance and the access route to the toilets, certainly didn't help matters.

Becky Becky got going soon after and immediately it seemed that this idiosyncratic synth-pop duo had goods which could more easily be mistaken for the 'Saturday Night Music' the pub was hoping for. Their tracks combine the familiar sounds of eighties synth-pop and electro-clash and the crowd had swelled with plenty of enthusiastic faces so it became easier to relax and enjoy the live performance built largely around the bands début, and possibly only, album 'Good Morning, Midnight'. As I mentioned before there's something very familiar about the range of sounds and musical devices that make up the backing tracks controlled by Peter Mason on synth, sampler and laptop at the back of the room. It's very evocative of it's influences but also very accomplished in how it conjures up those spirits of synth-past whilst also sounding current. The real star of the evening had to be in my mind Gemma Williams, who took up an oppositional position half-way out into the room standing in that contentious transitional space. Gemma is a captivating performer, twisting and turning with emotion as she delivers an intense and distinctive vocal; it's a unique sound but if pushed I would say her style and delivery are reminiscent of Kate Bush or Joanna Newsom.

In their online biography Becky Becky reveal that they formed in 2011 and quickly became live-in lovers. Those tumultuous early recording sessions proved too much for the relationship and the band and they soon went their separate ways. Gemma went on to gain critical acclaim with her Woodpecker Wooliams project and contributed vocals to tracks by Ghost Poet and Button Eyes; at the same time Peter was churning out remixes for the likes of Soccer 96 and Kid Canaveral before attempting to leave for European Shores permanently. Still the idea of Becky Becky would not go away and, despite their firey personal relationships they gave in to the call of the music and recorded their album abroad before releasing it last year. Now they are tentatively beginning to take it out to an eager live audience. There is a deep emotional vein to what they present and a darkness that lingers beneath the surface of every track, something I often find this style of music can lack. Once again I'm not sure the Martha Gunn was the best setting for this group. Although they went down a storm it feels like they deserve a Club PA and a light-show for this wonderful material. My favourite track of the evening had to be 'Remember, Remember' which sounded to my ears like the emotional core of Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' re-imagined with Human League production and that brilliant vocal. I'm looking forward to seeing them again when I'm more familiar with the material – if they can stand the tension of playing together long enough to come back for another Brighton show!
Adam Kidd