Gig review: Words Per Minute

Published on Monday 7 June 2010 19:05

WORDS PER MINUTE **** CREATION STUDIOS, GLASGOW

FANS of Glasgow spoken-word night Discombobulate would do well to take note of this similarly-spirited offshoot, curated and charmingly compered by Anneliese Mackintosh and Kirstin Innes. Once a month, Words Per Minute throws open the stage at Creation Studios to creative types of all stripes, be it to break their live duck, reintroduce established work or experiment with new material in punchy ten-minute turns.

At this second instalment of WPM, eight acts ran a vibrantly broad gamut of mediums, from literature – in the form of readings from promising young writer Craig Lamont and respected scribes Emily Ballou and Sophie Cooke – to film, music and – in the case of a mischievous piece from composer and performer Iain Campbell, which at one stage involved him eating a packet of crisps to the sound of a de-tuned radio, an art form that we're not even sure has a name yet.

Novelist and biographer Rodge Glass and Gutter magazine co-editor Adrian Searle offered a tantalising preview of Dougie's War: A Soldier's Story, their forthcoming graphic novel about a PTSD-suffering Scottish serviceman's return from Afghanistan.

Musician and occasional film director Adam Stafford wrapped things up with a blast of his beguiling solo material, rendered from the neat trick of building-up swirling a capella vocal loops using guitar effects pedals.

A fine forum for the connections and collaborations that are the lifeblood of creativity, WPM has all the potential to yield many a similarly fruitful hook-up.