Gig review: Chemikal Underground

Published on Monday 1 February 2010 20:05

ABC, GLASGOW ****

MY, HOW Chemikal Underground has grown. The respected independent label, founded by The Delgados, is now a strapping teenager celebrating its 15th birthday.

A selection of videos by Chemikal acts from down the years played on the big screen between sets but this party was more a celebration of the label's current roster, so Chemikal stalwarts were joined by newbies such as Zoey Van Goey, with their winsome indie pop about the end of the world, and The Unwinding Hours, a group formed from the ashes of cult favourites Aereogramme, playing their debut gig and revisiting those same quiet/loud dynamics – with an emphasis on the quiet in this incarnation.

Ex-Arab Strapper Aidan Moffat unveiled his classy collaboration with jazz composer Bill Wells, whose dusky piano and double bass arrangements provided an atmospheric backdrop.

Former Delgados frontfolks Emma Pollock and Alun Woodward deservedly took their moment in the spotlight, the former promoting the angular, imaginative textures of her new solo album and the latter in his rousing Lord Cut-Glass guise, backed by a ten-piece band packing brass, strings and even synthesised steel drums.

Headliners The Phantom Band were the emphatic highlight, having developed into a commanding, dynamic live band since their release of their debut album, Checkmate Savage, last year. Where else at Celtic Connections would you get such an exciting racket hewn from Krautrock rhythms, analogue synths, collective wood-bashing and a melodica duet?