Gig review: Spiro

Published on Friday 26 February 2010 18:50

SPIRO PLEASANCE THEATRE, EDINBURGH * * * *

FORMERLY known as the Famous Five, the Bristol-based instrumental quartet Spiro have been around since 1993, but seem always to have preferred maintaining an enigmatically low profile, latterly changing their name and last year releasing only their third album, Lightbox.

That recording, though, marked their signing to Peter Gabriel's Real World label and was mentioned in several critics' year-end dispatches, so hopefully we'll be seeing more of them in future. The meagre turnout here – on the dreichest night of the winter – didn't reflect the spellbinding excellence of their performance.

In broad terms, Spiro's sound, intricately wrought from the raw materials of violin, mandolin, accordion and acoustic guitar, might be located somewhere between a more delicate version of Lau, the Penguin Caf Orchestra and Philip Glass/Michael Nyman minimalism. Splicing reconstructed traditional tunes with original compositions, it abounds in gorgeous melodies and hypnotic grooves, achieving a magically dynamic equilibrium of iridescent vitality and rigorous technical precision.

The band have called themselves musical geeks, and only a degree of obsessiveness could have created the fiendishly complex rhythmic subdivisions within a basic 4/4 or 3/4 beat, or instilled the quicksilver fluency with which the four swapped and realigned segments of melody, harmony, counterpoint, riff and ornament. The music's often cinematic grandeur and intense emotional impact, however – from aching melancholy to anthemic exultation leavened with a sprinkling of mischief, whimsy and wilful kookiness – luxuriantly transcended any risk of solipsism, such that the show's only downside was that it ended all too soon.