Enduring and endearing, is Mr Mason. From hero to zero, and back again, he has survived a difficult post-Beta Band patch when he couldn't produce what the people wanted in enough quantity to make his chosen career of music a certainty. How he must have regretted turning down those £'s when advertising agencies were knocking at his door…

However, Monkey Minds In The Devil's Time saw his focus and energy return, as Mason had just come out of a long and difficult period of depression. The album made the Top 40 and it is anticipated that his new one, Meet The Humans, will do even better once it's out there, at the end of February (despite the ongoing chart domination of Bowie and recently assorted dearly departed). It is, in my humble opinion, his best album since the demise of the untainted and much-loved Beta Band.

Moreover, he finally ditched – in his words – the lonely woods of Fife, for life by the seaside of Brighton a couple of years ago, and by his reckoning, is thoroughly enjoying it and being back amongst the people. Hence the album title, and the content, which for the most part is less angry, acerbic and withering than recent albums, and full of some of his best ever compositions, written in his deceptively lazy style. There’s much more to Mason’s music than meets the eye. But, of course, many of his fans already knew that. It helped that he’d decided to make this album more of a ’band’ effort, in shaping and recording the album. It shows on the finished product, as it does here tonight.

A near full house is testament to his new found mojo, and even though the audience didn't have much of a clue as to most of the newer songs, they seemed to genuinely enjoy what they heard. For instance Another Day, one of several songs on the new album that recalls Screamadelica-era Primal Scream, where trumpets, big piano, and a gently grooving psychedelic/percussive vibe infiltrates. Indeed, it seems to mimic a large portion of the audience, many drawn from that golden era when indie collided with dance and psychedelia in creating something fresh and invigorating, despite being imbued with a gentle sense of coming down and melancholia.

Elsewhere, new tracks such as Like Water ("God knows what that means" says Mason by way of introduction) also have this gently uplifting yet melancholy sound that harks back to the golden era of British post-acid house, as does the melodica-infused Alive ("It's all about eating your best friends in a romantic setting") and the wonderfully woozy, electric guitar-led mid-tempo of Alright, that morphs into a slowly building wall of sound. Recent single Planet Sizes (co-written with Ian Archer) also showcases his understated song-writing, and his voice, perhaps the most under-appreciated asset in his arsenal, with a sound and style that doesn’t try too hard and yet invariably hits the right notes in conveying mood and emotion.

Mason also dips into his post-Beta Band catalogue, including A Lot of Love and Seen It All Before from Monkey Minds, before closing the set with a rapturous and extended version of the closing track on the new album, Words In My Head. It’s another Screamadelica-style tune that sees Mason thoroughly lost in his percussion workout, with his old mucker Steve Duffield by his side on bass, the audience slowly but surely letting loose in a mini-delirium of old school clubbing vibes.

This being only the second gig with this new set list in place and an impending album to release, Mason is hoping that his strong and dedicated fanbase will respond positively. They did. Easily.
Jeff Hemmings
Photo: Mike Burnell

Website: stevemasontheartist.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Steve-Mason-197724901872
Twitter: twitter.com/SteveMasonKBT

See our Spotlight on Steve Mason here: http://brightonsfinest.com/html/index.php/spotlight/1215-steve-mason