No Ordinary Fool

I have never seen the attraction in planning one’s own funeral. There are enough pointless things to do as it is. Nevertheless, if I had to nominate how my mortal remains are given their final send-off, then it would have to be a Viking-style funeral in Dublin Bay. Similar sentiments are expressed by Chad VanGaalen on Sunday night with his opening song Willow Tree. Playing on an old, old banjo, with just acoustic accompaniment, you get the first live feel for his incredible voice. It is a spell-binding experience.

However, save for when he came back out by himself for a beautifully sung encore in Chronograph #1, Chad disappointingly opted for an unexpectedly loud and electric set instead. However, this is not for wont of any fine songs in there to play, as new album Soft Airplane is his best to date. Rather, Chad has a great talent in that voice of his and prefers not to make optimal use of it. Them’s the breaks, of course, but good money could be extracted from these gnarled and tightly clasped fists to hear him play an hour of unplugged music!

That Chad composes as well as records his songs in his basement could not be more apparent than on Cries of the Dead, where the sounds of his neighbour possibly throttling a dog next door morphs in his imagination into something a lot more eerie to be hearing late at night. While his first two albums had literally been chosen from dozens of songs that he had recorded there, Soft Airplane is a more cohesive effort, as evidenced on Sunday night by Poisonous Heads, Molten Light, and Rabid Bits of Time. Furthermore, when singing Bare Feet on Wet Griptape, he shows impressive vocal dexterity with a very fast-paced and yelpy version of the song.

Joinning Chad on stage throughout the evening are his touring drummer and Matt Flegel of support act Women. Matt alternates between accordian and electric guitar, whilst two other members of the band join them on stage for a couple of songs each. Indeed, other numbers in the set include Mini TVs and Sing Me 2 Sleep, as well as a nicely performed cover version of Brian Eno’s Golden Hours.

On the whole, it was a lovely set of imaginative and engaging songs performed by a personable musician. I think that he is supporting Wolf Parade in London tonight. The lucky bastards. as that is quite a cool double bill!