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REAL PAIN DOES SEEM TO HELP THE LEAP FROM ENTERTAINMENT Ille¢J [\llir
Patrick Wolf has had enough raw experience in his 23 years to fill a box-set of albums. Alexander Kennedy gets to grips with his unique brand of sublime pop.
icious little Dorothy Parker got it right vvhen she
said that the term ‘artist' is overused. and that
the category of ‘art‘ is not elastic. It isn‘t fashionable to say this. of course. vvhcre a restrictive version of 'inclusion‘ has meant that vve can all be artists. Patrick Wolf. vvho releases his third album The Magic Position this month. at the age of 23. is a modest but enormously gifted artist. standing out amidst a generation of singers who imagine themselves to he greater than they are. but who lack any sense of the risks and dedication that are required to make the leap from entertainment into. vvell. art. We might not like it. but real pain does seem to help that ascension.
Wolf's songs tell the true story: you only need to hall
listen to them to be shocked at vvhat this young man has been through. Alter a horrific time at school in Cornwall. and a mercy dash to London at the age of IS to play a Theremin (that he had built himself) vvith the
perlormance artist Leigh Bovvery‘s band. Minty. Wolf
managed to eventually find something resembling security.
llis debut album [grandma/iv. released in 2003. shovved off his precocious talent to great effect: each song exploded with vvit. vim. and electrifying anger. The depth of emotion portrayed and his knack for a sharp lyric that slashed though the mind‘s surface betrayed his tender years — he was still only l8. Wind in the Wires. his second. more lyrical. pastoral album. records his flight from the city back to the coast. Accordions evoke sea shanties and the soaring violin dips in and out of eastern liuropean folk music.
This third album. The Magic l’osirion can be more
62 THE LIST lfi l trl; ': Mm Willi"
easily understood as a pop album. an extremely confident. realistic and traditional response to love and love lost. The city and nature still seem to be dragging him in different directions. with the urban electronic percussive sounds and the softer folksy tones of the violin and the piano emphasising that tension.
The first three tracks (‘()verture’. ‘The Magic Position and ‘Accident and limergency') are pure. glorious. intelligent pop music vvith handclaps. a throbbing. soulful brass section. children’s voices.
joyous \vhoops and instantly memorable choruses that
make you smile. At heart this record is about the acceptance. integration and celebration of extreme emotional states ofelation and anxiety.
Light needs darkness. and by the time we reach the fourth and fifth tracks. the mood shifts. After every high comes the inevitable lovv. and the subject matter turns avvay from the heady celebrations of love to the black earth. the end of summer and autumnal melancholia. .Vlarianne l’aithful appears on the duet ‘Magpie‘. her unmistakable pained voice svvaying back and forth betvveen Wolf’s svveeter responses.
The darkness lifts again and vve ascend from the tmdervvorld for the final three tracks. ‘The Stars‘ sparkles \vith optimism. its comlorting lullaby chorus acting as a vvelcome salve. This is a well-conceived collection. a journey into. and then out of. the dark night of the soul. lixpect stars. black firevvorks and almost-angelic chorUses live.
Oran Mor, Glasgow, Fri 23 Feb. The Magic Position is released Mon 26 Feb on Loog.
THE
i-Ti The Gossip So what is this, the third time here in as many months? The Gossip seem to love Glasgow almost as much as Glasgow loves The Gossip. ABC, Glasgow, Tue 27 Feb. (Rock & Pop)
Bloc Party They may be the definition of ‘miserable indie
kids’ but however seriously they
take themselves, Bloc Party
can't help but make music that
is rarely less than special.
Barrow/and, Glasgow, Sat 7 7
Feb: Corn Exchange, Edinburgh,
Tue 20 Feb. (Rock & Pop)
1: African Soul Rebels See
preview. right. Usher Hall,
Edinburgh, Sun 78 Feb. (Folk)
Jarvis Shame he’s not doing
any Pulp songs in these sets but
there’s enough meat on his
debut solo platter to keep us
gnawing at the buckle of his
raincoat with joy. ABC, Glasgow,
Tue 20 Feb. (Rock & Pop)
Mr McFall’s Chamber The
cunning deconstructors of
contemporary classical music
welcome Northumbian piper
Kathryn Tickell and saxophonist
Tim Garland onboard for
another of their joyful musical
detours. Queen’s Hall.
Edinburgh, Tue 20 Feb;
To/lbooth, Stirling, Wed 27 Feb.
(Jazz, Folk, Classical)
1 ’ Tilly and the Wall The
patronage of Conor ‘Bright Eyes' Oberst and Hot Chip is just the start of it for these spritely mid-western indie tykes. See preview, page 64. King Tut's, Glasgow, Wed 27 Feb. (Rock & Pop)
Patrick Wolf See preview. left. Oran Mor. Glasgow, Fri 23 Feb. (Rock & Pop)
‘ Amy Winehouse The singer of Glasgow noisemongers Desalvo described Winehouse as ‘pure Dusty' when The List came upon him at a Tool gig last year. and who are we to argue with such an esteemed music documentarian? See feature, page 14. Carling Academy, Glasgow, Tue 27 Feb.
(Rock 8. Pop)