Wave If You're Really There

Wave If You're Really There

07 December, 2009
by: Hollyw

Much more than a band making art rock disco on a Cash Converter keyboard and a start up drum kit, Holly Williams finds out why the Wave Machines are also pretty good at planning weddings...



We're met at the gates of St Leonard's Church by a slightly crazed looking bride, who coaxes us in, dancing backwards up the path, telling us we're going to have an amazing night. She's absolutely right.
 
Mercy's fifth 'Wave If You're Really There' event, which weaves together poetry, music and general artsy magic, is wedding-themed: roses drip from the ceiling and confetti strews the floor. Our fellow wedding guests are arrayed in finery (as they swig straight from their BYO bottles), and love, romance, and the pitfalls of commitment will form loose themes for many of tonight's artistic offerings at the altar.
 
To open, WIYRT's Creative Director, Nathan Jones, and co-curators Wave Machines combine their talents. Jones' gravelly delivery of his poem 'The Bell' is captivating from the off, although when it reaches an emotional fever pitch, swelling to a shouted rant, what he is actually saying is unfortunately lost in the onslaught. Wave Machines' musical accompaniment, from simple chimes and oboe parts through to a full-on, beat-driven wig-out, keeps pace with the poetry and it all comes together pretty epically.
 
Then, suddenly, we're serenaded, from the balcony behind our pews. It's a spot-lit John Smith, bringer of acoustic guitar loveliness, all quicksilver fingerpicking and warm vocal tones. This seems all too brief, but the first half continues apace with Luke Kennard, who delivers a best man's speech that is funny, cutting and a little unsettling. Kennard is the youngest ever Forward Prize nominee, and while this is more dramatic monologue than poem, it certainly showcases his deft skill at honing a phrase and telling a tale. From vignettes about tongues stuck in locks to the apparently effortless conjuring of characters through a few choice details (like the careful placing of a novel in a pocket to ensure 'Nabokov' rises just above the pointless flap), Kennard's material is masterfully tight and tautly delivered.
 
More poetry follows, with Ross G Sutherland. Some cute, scrawly little projected cartoons accompany his first piece, 'Yeti', while his second – and very funny – poem is a science experiment on love, complete with lists of apparatus and tables of results, all aided by a PowerPoint presentation. His mocking style is enjoyably witty and, as if that isn't enough to win us over, an adorably earnest speech about the importance of love and poetry certainly does (I consider proposing right there – it is a wedding-themed night, after all).
 
Post War Years round up our first half in suitably sharp style, all Brylcreamed and bow-tied. After a slightly slow start, their set grows in energy, and soon we're all dancing down the aisle to their melodic synth-rock.
 
The welcome return of John Smith, once the audience are safely back in their pews, heralds the second half. He draws us in with an opener about murder on the moors, but it's an unlikely cover that proves the real crowd-pleaser – his folky take on a '90s dance tune, 'Not Over Yet' by Grace, will stay in our heads all night.
 
Homework, a poetry collective, offer up fast-paced, cuttingly clever and ferociously funny performance poetry, the highlight of which is the showdown between Tim Clare and Sutherland. Clare performs a poem called 'Gay Day', in which the only vowel he uses is 'a', interspersed with Sutherland performing 'Queer Night', using every vowel except 'a'. Sounds worryingly high brow and tedious? Perhaps it's the potential for puerile humour as well as technical virtuosity in their theme, but this lipogram slam is performed with such vigour, to a crowd so completely engaged, that it is a joy to behold (and, yes, very clever too).
 
Wave Machines round off the evening with a cracking set of electro-pop. Their technically accomplished, multi-layered sound is also eminently danceable, with strident synths and disco beats. I thought I didn't know them, but whether it is just their excellent hooks or my bad memory, songs suddenly sound like old favourites. If only all weddings could wind up this way.


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Hollyw