Muscles and fond memories. Live review of Jamie Lenman at The Garage

Jamie Lenman *****

Castrovalva ***1/2**

Kill Chaos *****

The Garage, Islington, Tuesday 10th December 2013

Must be the sherry, but so moved by Mr Jamie Lenman’s performance at The Garage, I’ve suicidally decided to write up tonight’s astonishing show in rhyme. Obviously bad rhyme. But rhyme. Must be a bigger idiot than I thought.

Kill Chaos *****

A raw and growly trio

Soaked in bile and brio.

Thee lads who play with passion

And in a chuggy, noisy fashion.

In truth they’re nothing new

But they know a thing or two

About progressions, beats and tunes;

And they dance around like loons.

All-in-all a damned fine set

Of energy and vigour

And when Chris Coulter joins them

Their sound gets much, much bigger.

So they’re not going to change the world,

But they raise a fair old grin.

Get toes a tapping, hands  a clapping

And that’s a bloody good place to begin.

Castrovalva ***1/2**

Noise rock with a spacey edge.

The singer’s hair looks like a hedge.

They must smoke bongs and take a drink

This trippy noise it makes one think.

All fierce and Methed it comes across

Like some weird hadean cross

Somewhere between Coheed and Tomassi

With a big hairy bloke but no sexy lassie.

With a scream and a voice like the Doctor’s K9

The thunderous noise far from benign

This tortured din comes right from the gut

But truth be told, it’s off its fucking nut.

Discomfort oozes from every pore

As the level never drops leaving ears (and cocks) raw

The Cher Vocoder raises an eyebrow

But you know what?

….It works.

Somehow.

Jamie Lenman *****

Holy fuck

And holy crap

What a night has been conjoured

By this renaissance chap.

A banjo strum one minute, molten metal the next

The mix so heady, bizarre and complex.

This chap all foppish, rocks everyone’s boat

And raises the roof, in his magician’s waistcoat.

There are songs fierce and fizzy

Most new, but some old

The pit drools and gets busy

As sideways stories are told.

A Shotgun House here and a broken heart there

Emotions are febrile and psyches laid bare.

There’s an unholy balance of hard rock, so raw

With choirs singin’ shanties and folk sounds of yore.

The effect is astonishing; agog jaws hitting floors

With old favourites sung back - every word as a roar.

This magic is truly unique and so smart

Cleverly ripping out guts while massaging the heart.

As near to perfection as live music can be

Mr Lenman: a true genius and tonight all agree

Quite tearful and mangled with nerve endings exposed

Replete, we all head onto Holloway Road.

A night that forever will live fond in the mind

A genius. A scholar. A true one of a kind.

Mr Lenman has set the bar so unreasonably high.

There won’t be many a show better ‘til the day that I die.