In deepest Dalston, East London is a venue called Cafe OTO that opened
last year. Tonight it played host to AU (pronounced "ay-you"),
an experimental pop collective from Portland, Oregon, who could be
favourably compared to the likes of Animal Collective.
AU is primarily
the work of multi-instrumentalist Luke Wyland, with a little help from
his friends. On this occasion he's touring with a chap called Dana
Valatka on drums (and at various points, a glockenspiel and a multitude
of glass bells). Together, they make for a fantastic live musical
partnership.
And tonight they did not disappoint. Wyland and Valatka threw themselves
into the gig, appearing to really enjoy the experience of playing live. It was a little
unfortunate that the crowd were seated around tables in front of them -
the atmosphere would have been better if the management had cleared the
area and got people to stand up and jump around a bit. Despite
encouragement from the compere, only a few people obliged.
The restrained audience contrasted with AU's slightly unhinged,
physically demanding performance - they were having to towel
themselves down after most songs - and there was a fair amount of
variety. Their opener was a rather gentle affair, for one thing. RR
vs. D, arguably one of the greatest tracks from their most recent album
Verbs, was especially good live. On the album it features an exuberant
orchestra, which is a bit difficult to replicate with two people. Wyland
chose to replace it with a melodica, which is simple but effective.
For their encore of Are Animals, they laid down some ground-rules.
Specifically, that they would only play if everyone stood up and crowded
around them. This worked really well, particularly during the bit where
he directed everyone to scream at the top of their voices, which we duly
did. Very cathartic, that.
One member of the audience also decided to
beat the hell out of a cymbal which Valatka had knocked off his kit
through very forceful drumming, earlier in the set. Afterwards it was
hard not to crack a smile and head off to check when they're next in
town.
ALBUM:
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