Review: Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells - The Arches, Glasgow

By Fiona Shepherd
Published on Thursday 22 December 2011 00:00

AGAINST all abiding but inaccurate impressions that he is a bit of a Grinch, Aidan Moffat has proven to be a keen host of festive gigs.

This year his Christmas Revue featured the soothing Spanish guitar instrumentals of RM Hubbert as a palate cleanser followed by a starter of Christmas carols and popular songs rendered wispily and whimsically by the National Jazz Trio of Scotland. Their tremulous Hark! The Herald Angels Sing turned out to be a little too self-regarding but The Christmas Song felt intimate with just spare piano backing from Bill Wells, while In The Bleak Midwinter was harmoniously rendered by a carolling ensemble including Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake.

The main course was a thoroughly satisfying selection of treats from Moffat and Wells’ recent album collaboration, Everything’s Getting Older, plus some Christmas trimmings. Post-Arab Strap, Moffat has found another worthy creative foil in Wells, who frames the former’s poetic, piquant storytelling and continuing experiments in singing with his gentle evocative soundtracks. Robert Henderson’s requiem trumpet added further emotional depth to The Copper Top, a resonant meditation on bereavement, featuring some of Moffat’s best ever writing.

Moffat upheld the standard of his unexpected cover version choices with a mournful jazz version of Bananarama’s Cruel Summer, which was far better than that bare information might imply, and there was a laugh-out-loud rewrite of The Night Before Christmas, somewhat inevitably involving an alcoholic Santa and some bondage thrown in for free. Laughter, melancholy, booze – it was Christmas in a nutshell.

RATING: ****

Logged in as:

Comment here. Start typing your comment here:

Post comment

Please adhere to our Community guidelines

Your view

Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.