The Dirty Projectors At Botanique

Botanique, saturday night and the anticipation of another cracking nights musical entertainment. First out of the blocks the highly experimental tUnE yArDs. Singer Merill Garbus accompanied by a single guitarist wove together a web of time delayed drums, vocals and ukulele playing that defied belief. If she could have travelled back in time multiple times to provide a one woman chorus and rhythm section with herself it would have sounded a lot like this. Add in a cracking vocal range, at time soulful, bluesy and out and out playful, and you've got a unique and highly enjoyable act. I'm listening to their album BiRd BrAiNs now it's an excellent, if a bit bizarre, listen too.

After the last reverbed echo's of Merill's vocals finally faded, on came support number two, a Canadian band called Sunset Rubdown. Fronted by keyboardist Spencer Krug, they hail from Montreal and got the crowd rocking along nicely prior to the main event. Their latest album is called Dragonslayer and well worth checking out.

And so, on to the main event, the Dirty Projectors. Now these are strange fish indeed. Otherworldly harmonies, off key guitar riffs that defy belief and a lead vocalist Dave Longstreth strutting the stage like a young David Byrne. The next hour flashed by, a haze of surreal sounds and capitivating performance.

The show ended with a rousing version of Knotty Pine, a track they performed with the genuine David Byrne on the excellent Dark Was The Night compilation.