Just two weeks after announcing his departure from mini-grunge revivalists Yuck, Daniel Blumberg is out on the road under the name Hebronix, a moniker so newly minted that he has to repeat it to the audience to make sure they heard correctly.
Armed with just a loop pedal, a click track and a Fender Mustang, he draws looped and layered chimes and drones out of his instrument that sound like the more stripped back moments of Sonic Youth.
There’s a little bit of Neil Young in his high pitched drawl but it seems as if solo Blumberg has been stripped of the youthful exuberance that made his former band such a great prospect.
Half facing away from the audience he draws his set to a close and ambles off into the night.
In a venue better known for hosting goth-themed club nights than delicate American indie rockers, Robert Plant’s favourite band take to the stage beneath gigantic numbers counting down to show time.
There’s a hushed silence from the audience as the trio open with a quartet of songs from this year’s fantastic The Invisible Way.
They’re mastery of moving between the abstract and the specific has never been more obvious than on ‘Plastic Cup’ last year’s Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) produced single; teasing out tiny details to form a pin sharp picture of addiction and thwarted promise.
‘On My Own’ transforms chanted “happy birthdays” into a shadowy drone-like mantra while ‘Holy Ghost’ sees drummer Mimi Parker deliver a devastating lead vocal.
Though the audience clap enthusiastically between songs, there’s no chatter or vulgar whooping from the crowd – it’s not that the band demanded such reverence, in fact Alan Sparhawk seems happy to engage with the crowd, cracking jokes about Justin Bieber and bursting into a spontaneous rendition of Talking Heads ‘Road to Nowhere’ after hearing it seep through the floorboards from below – just that the songs themselves demand contemplation and reflection to unfold their wonders.
The mumsy but inscrutable Parker and the gaunt but garrulous Sparhawk (guitar) are made to sing together, and augmented by Steve Garrington on bass and piano it’s easy to see how influential their mix of eclectic instrumentation, stunning harmonies and epic, slowly building songwriting has been on the likes of Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens.
‘Witches,’ a highpoint from 2011’s C’mon merges lyrics about raptured children with Sparhawk’s rocking Tom Petty riff.
Bidding the crowd goodnight with ‘In Metal’ from 2001’s Things We Lost in the Fire and a heartfelt ‘Good Night’ from their collaboration with Dirty Three, the crowd take a while to disperse, seemingly cowed by the magnificence of what the The Classic Grand has witnessed tonight.
Words: Max Sefton
Photos: Jayjay Robertson
