Baskery at the Borderline

Baskery at the Borderline

24 June, 2009
by: Heartcooksbrain

I arrive late to the Borderline in Tottenham Court Road, an area undergoing a full frontal construction facelift. Originally, my plan is to catch Stages of Dan, a post-rock Dalston trio, alas, I was en retard.

Instead I find myself staying for the headlining band, Baskery; an adorable, very much blonde Swedish sister three-piece toting distorted banjos (top marks!), Dick Van Dyke-style foot-operated drums, country guitar, and a double bass in a Southern 'ho-down' mish-mash.

Blatantly, Greta, Suniva and Stella can't avoid the obvious Dixie Chick comparison; but I feel they possess a sharper edge than that of their Southern counterparts, adhering to the tradition of fine Swedish exports namely; Swedish fish, Peter Bjorn and John, Abba. Then again, Frontminstreless Suniva, the youngest of the sisters, names Houston as a place she has visited, this warrants a bit of red neck cred, no?

Tonight, Baskery succesfully lasoo the crowd by the end of the show, casting the imagery of stormy nights in the American South, spinning yarns with vast scorched desert ballads, and of course the Varsity Blues 'ho-down' numbers. London can't quite reciprocate the exuberant energy dispatched by the liberated Swedes as they break into occasional pockets of early Van Morrison's Them grooves and at points nodded to The Who with power breakdowns and crescendos abound with Roger Daltry-esque moany screamy vocals, but somehow, Baskery manage to partially galvanize an otherwise apathetic crowd into a state of unusual mild amusement.

They have a cheeky, playful on-stage presence, almost High School Musical in places with what seemed like rehearsed dialogue and clever banter throughout. This bodes noticebly well with a crowd predominantly comprised of 30-something females in flannel with short haircuts. Later they lay claim in a lyric 'this is the real blues.' Rather refreshing it is to hear someone speak of the real blues of Sweden; I’m talking of course about the perils of living in oil rich Scandinavian countries with superlative social examples of education, welfare programmes and low crime rates. Some people got it tough!

After, I catch up with the beautiful Suniva for a short impromptu interview sans the conventional dictaphone for which I'm later rebuked by the bassist from Stages of Dan for not owning:

Greg: Favorite superhero?

Suniva: Good question. I’m not into comics. Probably the wizard Howooroo from the Japanese anime show Meisak.

G: Sweden vs. Norway. Who would win and why?

S: Norweigans! They are the underdogs and they would fight harder. I favour the underdogs. The Swedes take things for granted and are kind of elitist.

G: Favourite Beatles film?

S: Haven't seen any! Definitely not Yellow Submarine. I had to play it on Cello once when younger; I don’t like that song.

G: Favourite London pub?

S: The Snooty Fox in Angel, though, I have never been before.

Baskery have an album called 'Fall Among Thieves' out right now, and are appearing at the Lamer Tree Festival and Stainsby Festival in July.

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Heartcooksbrain