re:mote voices

Headliner:Diane Cluck
Support: Emmy The Great, Younghusband
Venue: Nice'N'Sleazy

Everything says doors open 7.30, arriving at 8 the doors are open, but there is nobody there. How odd. Though, in those moments getting served at the bar both Emmy and Diane potter passed. By the time seats are selected there are other people arriving, though the crowd that comes in over the remainder of the evening can never be said to pack the place. The place being Glasgow’s Nice’N’Sleazy bar and venue. The gig being an acoustic performance by Diane Cluck and Emmy The Great, which I came across from Emmy’s MySpace page.

The last time I saw Emmy she was playing King Tuts with her whole band, supported by band member doing solo set Younghusband. Younghusband is here again tonight, but this time it is him who has his whole band. Strangely, they start the night with the full band set, an indie rock set-up, which isn’t particularly my thing, though the three piece are certainly decent enough at what they do.

After some pottering about, involving borrowing a guitar, having realised about Cardiff she didn’t have hers, Emmy goes on stage with Younghusband providing second guitar and backing vocals. Though, in front of stage, sat down would be more of an accurate description. Encouraging the audience to come down and gather round, and creating a particularly intimate mood. One of her tracks includes the lyrics “You are no Charles Bukowski, and I’m no Diane Cluck”, she hesitates before the track, and as everyone laughs at that line, she stops and admits she is embarrassed. Cluck has leant Emmy her guitar, and sits at the side of the stage scribbling notes, at this point she looks up and smiles, and the music carries on. The last time I saw Emmy, I had just discovered her, listening to a couple of tracks the same day as the gig. This time I was pretty familiar with all the material that she played - from MySpace, Last.Fm, various sessions and the EP that was on sale last time round. Apparently she has just finished her debut album, this gig marking the completion of the final mix. Her sound is a kind of anti-folk, that poppy guitar tunes, and playful vocals/lyrics which has a distinct charm, I find at least.

Despite the reference to Diane Cluck in Emmy’s song, I hadn’t heard of her before seeing the listing for this gig. Like Emmy she plays guitar and sings, another intimate acoustic set, though she stands, and even uses a microphone, dragged off the stage and onto floor in front of stage. She has a curious style, kind of whimsical, kind of story telling. Some of her lyrics are also fun, and work well with performance style to create amusing little pieces. At the end of her set she indicates a pile of her CDs, she has five albums to date, and suggests that they are available for a donation - so I’m curious enough to take a couple of CDs and add some money to the pile. Of the two, the first was about 20 tracks, some of them pretty short, the rest not quite as short, which probably sums up the kind of stuff she does at times, quick little pieces, get to the punch line and move on.