Hootananny’s, Inverness, 15 March 2011

WITH their second album The Wants more than delivering on their 2009 debut’s thrillingly inventive promises, The Phantom Band closed 2010 topping a host of end of year polls. They are unquestionably one of the most respected, unanimously praised bands in the country, so the prospect of catching them in such intimate surroundings was a tantalising one indeed.

The Phantom Band

Appearing fresh from their recent European adventures, they immediately settled into their cool, pulsing, percussive drive, opening their material up, veering off on highly creative sonic excursions, which, although often lengthy and challenging, utterly avoided sounding drawn out, tired or obfuscatory. The Phantom Band seamlessly blur musical boundaries, generating dense, multi-layered textures suffused with interesting guitar lines, razor sharp live electronics and dark, ambiguous lyrical themes.

Operating across genres, they shift from moody folk-tinged offerings to whacked-out pop stomps, and tonight, their performance was a beautiful display of seamless coherence. Particularly impressive is the manner in which they unify these disparate elements while never compromising the ever present melodic content.

The Phantom Band at Hootannany's (Image Alexander Smith)

In terms of specific highlights, ‘O’ was a particular standout, building from a repetitive, skeletal synth throb to a huge, dark thumping finale which sounded utterly awesome. ‘Folk Song Oblivion’ and ‘A Glamour’ were also fantastic,  as was the gorgeous ‘Island’, but in the interest of brevity, they really never missed a stroke. So, were those gathered at Hootananny’s watching the best band in Scotland right now, quite possibly. Tremendous.

SHUTTER (Image Alexander Smith)

Certainly meriting a strong mention- highly respected local instrumental act SHUTTER opened proceedings by delivering a seriously charged set. The Highland four-piece treated the growing audience to a series of sublime instrumental offerings, building from subtle, clean, counterpoint wanderings, to huge bludgeoning pay-offs which at times sounded utterly immense.

Having seen genre leaders Mogwai on more occasions than is probably healthy, SHUTTER are no mere clones, they are brimming with fresh, inventive musical ideas and demonstrated a mastery of the genre in which they operate. Particularly impressive was their show of musical maturity, showing restraint, fantastic technique, and an acute awareness of their strengths; and when they did explode, it was nothing short of pulverising. They hinted that this may be their last show for some time; if so, it was some display.

© Alexander Smith, 2011

Links

• The Phantom Band
• SHUTTER
• Hootananny’s