Music/Film review: Lost in France

The partisan audience at the Glasgow Film Festival's hottest ticket may not have learned anything they didn't know already from Lost In France '“ Niall McCann's affectionate, nostalgic portrait of the city's 1990s indie scene and, in particular, the bands on the Chemikal Underground roster '“ but there was love to spare in the room for this heartwarming celebration of friendship and collective creativity, which revisited a chaotic 1997 trip to a small festival in Mauron, Brittany, of which several participants appeared to have little recollection.
Alex Kapranos PIC: Lisa FergusonAlex Kapranos PIC: Lisa Ferguson
Alex Kapranos PIC: Lisa Ferguson

Lost In France ****

ABC, Glasgow

Following the screening, five of the main players - Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand, Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai, Emma Pollock and Paul Savage of The Delgados and guitar ace RM Hubbert - convened as Glasgow supergroup The Maurons for one night only (again) to perform a short set of Glasgow indie classics, including the Jesus & Mary Chain’s Some Candy Talking (simply because it’s Tuesday, according to Braithwaite) and an excellent, freewheeling rendition of The Pastels’ Nothing To Be Done, both of which afforded an opportunity to hear the lesser spotted Braithwaite vocal, a fragile but affecting thing.

Franz Ferdinand., Picture: Steven Scott Taylor/Johnston Press LicenceFranz Ferdinand., Picture: Steven Scott Taylor/Johnston Press Licence
Franz Ferdinand., Picture: Steven Scott Taylor/Johnston Press Licence

Kapranos led a supple rendition of Franz’s Jacqueline and the whole ensemble piled in for the punky, primitive, eccentric and carefree Owl In The Tree by their one-time peers Trout, in tribute to the many game bands who populated the 13th Note scene back in the day, before Chemikal Underground’s current biggest noise Holy Mountain re-arranged internal organs with their piledriving set at the afterparty.

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