Scary Mansion Play the Old Blue

Scary Mansion Play the Old Blue

04 March, 2010
by: Pete Spoonfed

A round of Hit or Miss at the Old Blue Last.

Sometimes you get to a small venue, it's more or less empty, but you still get that buzz of excitement, a feeling that you’re just about to share something special with fifty-odd perfect strangers. Recently that's been the case at Old Blue Last –  the fervent anticipation of seeing the Next Big Thing.

Other times can be, in contrast, inconsolably bland. Tonight, thirty three souls scatter across the room. Some sway alone to the beat, others will scoff at the sight of the curious stick guitar Scary Mansion's singer will soon slue across the stage. But this is just part and parcel of turning up to a freebie at the Old Blue Last: sometimes they’re only Just Another Thing.

First up tonight are Hyrst, who, given a fuller crowd, might just have got away with a good set. Their clashed stop-start beats close on those of Aerogramme but, with only a couple members, their intentions are lost in a wash of cymbal. Instead their gregarious enthusiasm for a floor tom, sparse samples and that over-indulged Ride falls on gormless faces. The empty floor before them presents too much space and time for the crowd to pause and reflect. It makes their bitingly aggressive music-as-art come across unfortunately mocked; paralleling Flight of the Conchords perhaps, only without the irony.

Scary Mansions are straight up next. The three-piece are the touring band of musician/artist/designer (read ‘Brooklynite’) Leah Hayes. This precocious Creative has already been picked up to tour with TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone, but judging by tonight’s performance alone, that might simply have been due to geographical convenience.

As Scary Mansion take the stage, Leah Hayes mumbles shyly down the microphone, her drowsy Brooklyn drawl slurring introductions. In song however she sparks to life with the excitement of an over-zealous karaoke singer, bouncing up and down over a distorted backdrop of lo-fi noise pop. The drums pop behind her like fireworks as she leads into the second track. It can’t be ignored how odd her guitar is: clasping it like a widdly oar- and calling it a Thunderstick- she plays it with the abrupt nonchalance that only an artist could.

But, even with an intriguing instrument flung over her shoulder, there’s just a sense of sullen bathos tonight, not least when Scary Mansion meander into new track, ‘Over the Weekend'. Leah's Thunderstick rings out a chord to inspire a pensive bout of poetry; but rather than something incisive and adroit, she sings the longest going-nowhere sentences ever sung. It sums up a night of unsatisfying potential. When they’re done, the audience droop away to a wail of feedback, not entirely sure whether they’ve actually finished or not.

Click here to see all London indie.
Click here to see all London live music.

Pete Spoonfed