The Welsh-born Cate Le Bon has an unusual and unique way of going about her live performances and music in general. It is something that finds a blend between post-punk, art-pop and psych, splicing together elements, of Television, Nico and Super Furry Animals. Her live shows have always been renowned for their obscurity and quirk, touching upon new live dimensions, and tonight’s show was to be no different as her and her band performed under glittered face paint and the mystique of low-level, blue lighting. The blue lighting was an interesting touch, playing upon the aquatic theme of Crab Days, the latest of Le Bon’s long pieces.
The tension of the Orange Juice-sounding ‘Crab Day’ is the first to break the hushed, appreciative silence tonight inside the intimacy of Patterns. The throbbing of Le Bon’s guitar rushes along frantically with panic and anxiety, matched beat-for-beat with the rhythm section that acts as the pursuer in the chase. Wowee Zowee-styled guitars undercut rhythm, acting as some obscure oppressor to the tension; unsure where to go the song panics within Patterns as Le Bon finds the interesting middle area between intensity and serenity. As the show moves forward, it becomes intriguing how Le Bon can find atmosphere where different elements would seemingly conflict. What I mean by this is that the guitar work and song structure in its own isolation is quite the intense affair. There is a lot of tight lead guitar work, similarly, the unison between bass and drums finds the beat at the same time. However, with the calming blue wash of the lights and Cate Le Bon’s angelic voice, there is an uncanny conflict in ambience.
The kooky, off-centre approach of Cate Le Bon, who wrestles with tussles of hair that seem to be falling time and time again into her eyes, is enigmatic and at the same time exceptionally endearing. As her drifting falsetto fills sparse sections of songs, it appears that the Cate Le Bon performance is more than just what seemingly happens on the stage but, at the same time, what happens off it too. The closing song off her latest LP, ‘What’s Not Mine’ details Le Bon’s filling of gaps with jagged, jarred guitar work that puts grace into the fuzziest of sounds. When she falls back to older material such as ‘I Can’t Help You’, the atypical angular guitar fiddles upon elasticated basslines, performed by non-other than Sweet Baboo.
Considering her recent move to LA, the set rarely departs too far from the exceptionally East Coast aesthetic of Cate Le Bon’s post-punk jive, something that blends tension with her cosmic persona that sits somewhat upon a French accent. When the musicality does calm down, there are faint muffles of distorted, bony guitars, however with the divinity of Le Bon’s voice on top. Once again, reverting back to Mug Museum, Le Bon picks at ‘Cuckoo Through The Walls’, a song that brings back irrevocable comparisons to Nico with its gentle nature and subtle kick drum thud.
If Le Bon was to begin soundtracks, the obvious point of reference throughout her Crab Days material would be the shift sideways to the likes of Wes Anderson, particularly in reference to his Life Aquatic work. ‘I’m A Dirty Attic’ plays on ghostly soundscapes at the beginning, guitars fight with Le Bon in an unnatural fashion. Her voice ripples around them as if it were a stone thrown into a pond. There is something exceptionally desperate and haunting about the way Le Bon repeats the phrase: “I want to make sense with you, with you”, it’s music for the avant-garde and for art-pop enthusiasts but, that is what makes it exciting. It seems artists such as Le Bon are relying more and more upon shattering the fourth wall, connecting with audience members in a new way, in a progressive way.
Such is the style of her music, Le Bon departed the stage after a brief take on Richard Hell’s ‘Time’, a song that couldn’t point any closer to her style and sensibility onstage. After playing for the best part of an hour and half, the set all but flitted by as you were introduced to the abstract world of Cate Le Bon. Pushing senses to a world previously unexperienced, atmosphere was tested with, toyed with and contrasted by Le Bon and her group onstage. Finding interesting realms of the heavenly and the anxious, it was lead with detached narration but immersive ambience. The creative mind of Le Bon never ceases to amaze whether on record or in person.
Tom Churchill
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