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Ali Welford enjoys a characteristically nonchalant but rare solo outing from the Arab Strap guitarist
Image by Ali Welford
With Arab Strap’s reunion an unqualified triumph, it’s easy to forget that both men had been doing just fine out on their own. Guitarist Malcolm Middleton had in fact gone solo long before the band’s dissolution in 2006, and amassed a considerable oeuvre during their decade-long absence. It’s been time well spent, but after an extended spell on the back burner, tonight’s sold-out audience – which includes a healthy traveling contingent – is palpably glad to have Malcolm the solo artist back.
It’s not long before he’s settled back into his groove. Never the showiest of performers, old staples such as Break My Heart, A Brighter Beat and Blue Plastic Bags are dusted off with characteristic nonchalance, reanimated with the backing of Arab Strap touring members Stevie Jones (double bass) and Graeme Smillie (keys). These none-too-subtle odes to heartbreak and depression are hardly shorn of bleak moments, yet there’s a levity at play – be it their unassuming melodic heft or Middleton’s deadpan delivery – that’s a tacit invitation to revel in the desolation. No doubt a curious sensation to outsiders, lines like “Fuck off with your happiness” (from the sardonically titled Love Is A Momentary Lapse In Self Loathing) become not just cathartic, but oddly life affirming.
The well of sadness hasn’t run dry, either. New songs Going To The Bottom and Sneaky Feeling already sound like future favourites – the latter’s “feeling down helps me know when I’m fine” a vintage refrain from this self-deprecator in chief.
“So that was my first solo gig in six years,” he states during the encore. Whether a knowing nod or an innocent slip of the tongue (the flinch which follows suggests the latter), this reframing of his band’s most famous lyric is perhaps the only other sign that he’s been away at all.
We’re gifted an excellent opener too in Harriet Bradshaw – and the Teessider has new songs of her own in tow. Applying a storyteller’s flair to sarcastic laceration and unwelcome reunions, standouts You’re the Problem and Exactly The Same are communicated via a beautifully featherweight, precisely enunciated vocal, meriting the oft-made Kate Bush comparison, whilst also recalling more contemporary voices such as Hayden Thorpe and Anna B Savage. We’re treated to a couple of cuts from her eponymous 2022 debut too, but the takeaway from tonight is that its follow-up – pencilled in for next year – is shaping up to be a beauty.
