Withered Hand Glasgow Mono 18 03 10
Title: Withered Hand - Glasgow Mono 18 03 10
Label: SL Records
Cataloge No: N/A
Type: Live
Reviewer: Lucy
Date: 23, March, 2010
I saw Withered Hand for the first time at the end of 2009, supporting King Creosote's Skuobhie Dubh Orchestra at the Tolbooth in Stirling. King Creosote joined them for a couple of tracks and even cited their album as his favourite of the year.
I'd seen the name mentioned on various music blogs but it was the name that put me off. However, at Stirling I found I was on the edge of my seat throughout their set. Dan Wilson makes for an awkward front man, trucker cap pulled down over his eyes, with a strange hoarse speaking voice sounding like he was auditioning for a role on The Muppets. When he sings though, it suits him better and fits his self-depreciating, wry tales of growing older, looking back and never quite fitting in. Lyrics jumped out of the songs and stuck in my head for weeks. “Isn't grey hair just the first light of a new dawn,” has woken me up in the middle of the night and more than once I've had to stop myself from singing aloud to their cover of Charles Latham's Hard On at inappropriate moments.
At Mono, I feel like one of the only people in King Street who didn't spend the weekend at the Fence Homegame. Reports have come through that Withered Hand were a highlight, the live band is made up of members of other Edinburgh bands Mersault and Eagle Owl who were also on the bill of the Fence Records weekender.
Tonight Glasgow is in mourning for Big Star's Alex Chilton, still a god-like figure for the local indie scene, with bands from Teenage Fanclub to tonight's support, Skeleton Bob, citing his influence. At first it's a subdued crowd. Second support band The Starlets raise their game with a Morricone-inspired western instrumental and things start to pick up.
Without his hat, Wilson cuts a less mysterious figure; tonight with a small band including a cellist, which means things sound a little less alt-country than on the banjo-favouring album. Watching him make a second attempt to remember the words to A Wonderful Lie and then more successfully perform the majority of tracks from the album, it's easy to get distracted by all the self-depreciation. He's one of those performers who doesn't give the impression that he's aware of how good he actually is.
Thanks to Michael Gallacher for the great photo!
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