Live Review

Bitter Ruin – The Arches, Glasgow

• 27th Aug 2011

Bitter Ruin showed in a five song set that lasted no more than thirty minutes that they are a band with both a unique sound and the talent to deliver in breathtaking style.

This was an unusual night at The Arches, a cavernous venue underneath Glasgow’s Central Station. Bitter Ruin were down to support American singer Amanda Palmer and her new band, the Grand Theft Orchestra, or ‘Amanda F*ucking Palmer’ as she was billed. There were two other acts: a brass band and a belly dancer!

It is difficult to describe Bitter Ruin’s act. There are folk influences and operatic vocals. Classical guitar with flamenco flourishes. Psychedelic imagery and theatrical delivery. You have to see it to get the full effect.

But however you try to label the performance there is no doubting that the Brighton duo of Georgia Train on vocals and Ben Richards on guitar and vocals are incredibly fine musicians. Train has a voice that effortlessly spans several octaves, low and brooding at times yet also hitting high notes that others can only dream of. And Richards has a fine voice too, as well as offering some mesmerising guitar work.

The opening Chewing Gum, from the duo’s second album Hung, Drawn and Quartered, tells of a lover’s memory that can’t be shaken in a compelling and dramatic fashion. Train didn’t so much sing the song as live it, every word wrought with emotion as she contorts and displays the feelings behind the lyrics with a clarity that captivates.

The forthcoming single, Trust, was also melodramatic and magical. The guitar intro sets an almost cabaret tone before Train’s haunting vocals come in. The chorus features rapid fie vocal play between the two, before Richards takes over. This is not so much a song as a three minute performance piece or a scene from a musical.

Two older songs came next, the slower Soldiers and The Vice, another intense track delivered in wonderful fashion by the duo. And the closing Relief, a new song that will feature on the next album, closed the short set in style, a western themed song with the two musicians as gunslingers duelling.

The only conceivable gripe about Bitter Ruin’s set was that it was far too short. Train and Richards deserve a bigger stage and more scope to deliver their music and I would love to see them as headliners. They have the talent to go a long way, although their music is a little out of the mainstream and probably won’t get the media attention that it richly deserves.

Georgia Train returned to the stage later in the night to deliver a beautiful duet with Amanda Palmer on Delilah, Train’s operatic delivery contrasting well with Palmer’s lower powerful voice.

And Amanda Palmers set? Well, it is truly difficult to describe. In over two hours of an excellent performance she covered Bowie-esque glam rock, electronic experimentation and ukulele covers. Then there was the exercise section of the show, with all of the band in the audience, and several songs with the aforementioned brass band. Then to top it all a kilted audience member had his chin and one leg shaved by Palmer on stage. (Honestly, I’m not making this stuff up!)