Jonnie Common has been about the scene for a wee while now turning his trade in various different bands and for the better of many other acts. Tonight he presents a night promoting his “not remixed” album DESKJOB which features an array of talent from across the country.
The night sees eight of the albums 10 featured artists performing live, two songs each and performed in there original stripped down form or with Jonnie’s input if it is wanted, but Jonnie is eager for this to be showcase for the bands and not himself.
There’s a wee gimmick too, obviously the DESKJOB title drags up that 9-5 imagine strangled in a dull office in that uncomfortable suit and tie. So, the acts have all got dressed up in office attire to play their sets and accompanied by Jonnie’s highly amusing office based banter this works very well for a one night event.
First up is Panda Su, she defends not being dressed in stereotypical office attire stating she works in an office and came straight from work. Su’s husky vocals on top minimal beats and twangy guitars form a delightful opening to the set. She’s not scared to chuck in a bit of humour as well stating she me Jonnie at T in he Park, “it’s our favour festival, Jonnie’s favourite band is Scouting For Girls and I like Alexandra Burke”.
The calm, soothing vocal delivery of Adam Beattie shocks somewhat from his slightly awkward tall frame and his half dress half casual outfit, but the singer songwriter looks confident in his position and his touching tribute to his grandfather ‘A Song of 100 Years’ leaves most fighting tears.
We find out why the other two artists are off in a round about office related sense when Jonnie spills that “one phoned in sick and the other is based in the Manchester branch” before introducing Meursault’s Neil Pennycook. This is Jonnie’s first involvement in musical output of the night and he teams up well with Pennycook, adding glitchy beats to the drawn out atmospheric beauty of Meursault.
“Chewing gum on company time” Pennycook quips as he removes his gum before cruising into a relaxing, plucked guitar performance. Pennycook has made the effort in dressing up too but his oversized collar combined with baldy head bring more of a Harry Hill tinge than that of a 9-5 laky.
Next up is The Oates Field, and Alan Oates clad in a suit a few sizes to big and a set of trainers supplies us with some brilliant Scottish misery intertwined with some dry, funny anecdotes between songs. Jonnie notes for office purposes that Alan is comfortable speaking with large audiences before intruding the band that he is now a part of, Inspector Tapehead.
Inspector Tapehead’s folk pop sound is emphasised brilliantly by soothing backgrounds, interesting glitchy bleeps and the odd marching beat, while band call on dual vocals to bring the whole concoction more toward the pop end of the scale.
As the third and final group of acts take the stage you can’t help but think you’ve already got your moneys worth, but still there is much more to come. Autistic Angus open their set with some dreamy bliss and if it wasn’t for the frontman’s pretty awful hat (surely no hats in the workplace) the whole set could almost make you cry.
Conquering Animal Sound present us with a lush collage of beautiful vocals and various different instruments. The dazed beauty of the singer Anneke’s sultry vocal leaves the crowd captivated, while the addition of various bleeps and samples make the whole set all the more better.
Eagleowl have the unenviable task of ending tonight proceedings and they don’t disappoint. This is music anyone, even your dad, could love, mellow fiddle and gently booming cello set off deep dreamy vocals to perfection.
They play their two tracks and Jonnie give his last office related pun of the night, asking for overtime, which he duly gets. Most of the acts retake the stage in what resembles a tacky school reunion of insane musical talent and Eagleowl lead us off into what turns into a captivating sing-along ending the night in what could be the mot fitting way.
Photos: Ingrid Mur
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