Gig review: Daughn Gibson, Glasgow

YOU can hear a little of a lot of other artists in Daughn Gibson’s music. Be it James Blake’s ghostly post-dubstep, or John Grant’s splicing of manly vocals with camp electronica and raw lyrical narratives, or John Maus’s strange baritone and eerie use of samples. And especially Johnny Cash’s country vocal twang.

Pennsylvania singer-songwriter Daughn Gibson. Picture: Complimentary

Daughn Gibson - Broadcast, Glasgow

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And yet the Pennsylvania singer-songwriter still always sounds unique unto himself – and that’s a compliment you can rarely pay a musician these days. Touring his second album Me Moan, as released on iconic Seattle label Sub Pop, and visiting Glasgow as part of the No Mean City Americana festival, this was a bizarre and compelling set from a guy who excels at shooting familiar influences back at listeners in weirdly unfamiliar forms.

Backed by a drummer and guitarist/pedal-steel player, Gibson’s part was to trigger pre-recorded audio and synth drones and whack a tambourine.

From its child’s voice opening sample through an uplifting alt-country chorus, In the Beginning might have been Lambchop as remixed by the Avalanches. The excellent Kissin’ on the Blacktop was hot-wired blues-punk of the meanest kind, while Gibson’s main set closer started to resemble an Alabama 3 record slowed down, before melting into electronic noise and feedback. “Glasgow, it’s been real, it’s been fun, but it ain’t been real fun,” he boomed over that din. Imagine Gibson’s surprise when he got called out for an encore.