"Just the usual line up then", expresses John Bramwell as he takes to the mic in a sweltering Manchester Academy. On the contrary... Joining Bramwell, Andrew Hargreaves (Drums) and Peter Jobson (Bass) is an ensemble of multi-instrumentalists playing strings, horns and keys.
The 8-strong line up eases through a set of new songs taken from forthcoming album, 'Sky At Night'. The added instrumentation certainly gives the new material a deeper, more orchestral sound, perhaps unsurprising given that the album is produced by long time friends Craig Porter and Guy Garvey (Elbow).
The Elbow influence cannot be ignored, and in 'Proof', a song that’s been doing the rounds in Kloot set-lists for some years now, they have something which could arguably help them rival the success of their more established counterparts.
After playing almost all of the new record, Bramwell returned to the stage for a beautiful, solo rendition of 'Astray’, before being rejoined by the other two thirds of the original line up to power through a selection of well received tracks from each of their previous releases. Not least from their debut album 'Natural History’, where no fewer than half of the tracks get a more than welcome outing.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the brutal 'One Man Brawl’ is the only offering from acclaimed 2007 album 'Play Moolah Rouge' and is arguably the stand out track of the night. This is followed by crowd pleaser 'To You', which was dedicated to the fans that have followed this band from the very beginning. Fitting, for a band who through their own admission, have a very loyal, if small fan base. However, everything does seem to be in place, for them to become more renowned, thanks, only in some part, to a little help from their friends.
A small encore featuring the heart warming 'No Fear Of Falling' and '86 TV’s' brought to the end yet another successful homecoming show by a band, who surely not for much longer, can be considered to be one of Manchester’s best kept secrets.
Deke Hardman
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