04 March 2010 (Music Profile)

 

So, the Choice Music Prize is over for another year, this year finding a winner in Galway man Adrian Crowley, and his album 'Season of the Sparks'. Crowley and his band were among the eight acts that played at last night's live event in Vicar Street. For photos of the performances, as well as the mighty craic behind had by punters and musicians alike, head over to Caught Out now.| Words: Jenny Mulligan

 

 

The set up in Vicar St for this year's Choice Music Prize was much the same as previous years, except that each of this year's acts only had two songs (six minutes, according to Neil Hannon, though we suspect that was stretched on more than one occasion) in which to make their mark on the audience. This left the majority of the show's two hour running time taken up with overly lengthy interviews with each of the ten nominees projected onto large screens at the back of the stage, as well as an extra track from each album played quietly between each performance. The only logical explanation is that this was for the benefit of Today FM listeners at home, though I didn't see them pay €27 a pop for a ticket. Every now and then Today FM's Alison Curtis, our host from the evening, would wander onstage and say something inconsequential to a crowd paying precisely zero notice. Alison, we love you usually, but the set up here definitely left something to be desired.

On arrival, we had our first and only celebrity spotting of the night, as The Divine Comedy and Duckworth Lewis Method's Neil Hannon attempted to acquire a seat for his friend Cathy Davey. We got to our seats just in time to see Dublin alt-pop four piece Codes belting out probably their best known song, 'This Is Goodbye'. Their user-friendly blend of guitar and synths had no problem filling the room, though frontman Daragh Anderson was shown up by the superior vocals of his bandmates. Unfortunately, ending the performance with a clichéd fling of his guitar to the floor didn't come across as cool so much as pompous. We're pretty sure these guys didn't earn that much money from 'Trees Dream in Algebra.'

Next up was Julie Feeney, who was nothing if not memorable. She crept surreptitiously onto the stage, echoed no so much by a backing singer as a backing whisperer, and accompanied by cello and trumpet. Julie's eccentricities came out in more than just her outrageously sequined dress, and the performance of her second song, 'Myth', was something of a gamble. Climbing down from the stage claiming she was going to tell us a story, Feeney proceeded to wander through the audience amidst the sounds of giggling and gossiping provided by her aforementioned backing whisperer. Singing directly to bemused audience members, she punctuated the song with insane cackling. This oddball performance showcased a side of Julie Feeney that is not necessarily apparent on her nominated album 'Pages'. Strange as it might have been, it was thoroughly entertaining.

It's almost the defining feature of Dark Room Notes live show that frontman Ronan Gaughan's performance is always blank and expressionless. So much so that it becomes a positive and endearing quality. Granted it wouldn't be so if the electro-pop outfit's tunes weren't quite so catchy, but since they are they contrast sharply with Gaughan's charisma-lacking character. Meanwhile, Arran Murphy looked glamorous in a dazzlingly sparkly full length purple dress, while Darragh Shanahan showed speed and skill on the drums.

Neil Hannon and Thomas Walsh showed a level of showmanship unmatched throughout the rest of the show. There's a good reason why The Duckworth Lewis Method were among the favourites to win this thing. Their jokes came across as quirkily charming, despite the fact that we, the audience, apparently failed to get them. With Hannon on piano and Walsh on acoustic guitar, the pair harmonised wonderfully on the infectious tracks 'The Age of Revolution' and 'Meeting Mr. Miandad' from their cricket-themed album.

With Bell X1 and Laura Izibor absent, their video inserts were all we saw of them. Laura Izibor spoke briefly about why it took so long to get her album, 'Let The Truth Be Told' onto shelves, which was partly due to a change of labels at the age of just 18. In between the video for 'Shine' was shown. Yep, that song from the Hibernian Aviva ad.  Later in the night, we heard Bell X1's Paul Noonan and David Geraghty discuss 'Blue Lights on The Runway', cut together with a live performance of the album's lead single 'The Great Defector.'

It was after that point that the tone turned decidedly downbeat, and would stay that way until the final act. The petite form of Valerie Francis appeared onstage in a short black and white striped wool number, with her acoustic guitar in hand. With it she played sweetly plucked numbers, with the help of a cello, various bells and miscellaneous objects, including a recorded. Small quivers in Valerie's voice showed signs of nervousness during this simple and pretty performance, but sadly it was one of the night's poorer showings.

         

The Swell Season were greeted with one of the night's bigger audience responses - not surprising considering the size of their fanbase. Marketa Irglova took lead vocals and guitar first, while Glen Hansard took to the piano for the song 'I Have Loved You Wrong', which really came into its own towards the end, with the whole band contributing to the song's delicate harmonies. Switching places, Hansard began to tell a lengthy anecdote, no surprise to anyone who's seen The Frames man in concert before - he has a tendency to waffle. Telling a story of a Sydney concert the band cut short to catch the end of a Leonard Cohen concert, eventually Hansard came to his point, and introduced Javier Mas, Cohen's guitarist who appears on the band's nominated album 'Strict Joy'. It seemed like a bit of a sneaky trick, to bring a Spanish guitarist with such swift fingers out to up their performance, but he certainly was a joy to watch.

The man who was to become the night's winner, Adrian Crowley was next up. Crowley's warm deep voice has a lullaby-like quality. Starting out on guitar, his band created wonderful atmospherics, characteristic of his winning album 'Season of the Sparks'. Moving onto keyboards for his second song, Crowley built up the sound steadily, before it culminated in an epic, reverberating guitar solo, and Crowley eventually stepped away from his instrument, allowing his guitarist to steal the glory of the ending.

Closing the performance section of the Choice Music Prize were Belfast four-piece And So I Watch You From Afar, and what a close it was. By the sound of things, they instrumental hard-rockers had brought quite a few friends with them, and well they might, as they had big plans for a free late night show in The Mercantile afterwards. Kicking things off with the phrase, 'Let's do this thing', their hard rock attitude might be a tad forced, but there's no doubting their energy is contagious. Bounding around the stage to the sound of math-rock guitar and distorted bass, ASIWYFA were deservedly loud. Meanwhile, their shirtless and tattooed drummer smashed and clattered with ferocious expertise. Easing as painlessly as possible from metal-influenced noise to quieter passages soaked in reverb and effects, ASIWYFA made engrossing instrumental music look easy. Having rooted for their AWESOME album to win since their nomination, we were a touch disappointed that the Belfast lads didn't bag the prize, especially after such a powerful performance. Still, by all accounts, there was some party in The Mercantile last night.

When the time came to announce the winner, The Irish Times' Jim Carroll came onstage and gave a rushed speech, giving some history on the award and its important place supporting Irish music. On receiving his award, Adrian Crowley seemed genuinely overwhelmed, thanking his bandmates for playing with him, and the event's organisers for supporting all the great music that our country has to offer.

To see more pictures from the Choice Music Prize live event, head over to Caught Out now.

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