Gig review: Cindytalk/Thurston Moore, Glasgow

The second day of the BBC Tectonics festival drew to a close with a gig which had the hushed, pregnant air of an illicit late night gathering. The cognoscenti and the curious clustered round a performance space on the floor at the back of the hall.

Gordon Sharp, aka Cindy, provided ghostly torch vocals over guitar, bass, drumkit and a symphony of sound effects. Picture: Alice Wilby

Cindytalk/Thurston Moore - Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow

* * *

At the centre of the huddle, Sonic Youth guitarist and veteran noisenik Thurston Moore, a welcome visitor to these parts for the past thirty years, was making his second appearance of this year’s festival, presenting a continuous suite of improvised drone and noodle, with vocal embellishment, snarls and muttering provided by collaborator Dylan Nyoukis.

Although far from the ear-splitting cacophony of which he is capable, Moore did succeed in sending some onlookers out the door with fingers in their ears.

Headliners Cindytalk started life in Glasgow more than 30 years ago and some of the audience had been waiting for a hometown gig ever since. This was less triumphant homecoming than tentative handshake, however. These days the experimental group comprises guitar, bass and deconstructed drumkit – so deconstructed that, at one point, the drummer started clawing in the general direction of the cymbals for no good reason – backing the ghostly torch vocals of Gordon Sharp, aka Cindy.

However, much of the visual and sonic interest came from the two sound effects artists manning meticulously miked-up tables of treats, loaded with mysterious receptacles and props, from which they created their symphony concrète for cellotape and plastic bag, to Antony & the Johnsons-meets-Blue Peter effect.

Seen on 10.05.14