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  Ela Orleans, Sacred Paws and Howie B live at Stereo in Glasgow



Who needs existentialism when you have Glasgow? I wonder how many great philosophers have considered that very question whilst they wait in the queue for their breakfast methadone. At a guess the answer is many but, to drift aimlessly back to the point, tonight this is Stereo and doing the three up two down are Ela Orleans, Sacred Paws and Howie B.

After a pause, and thus providing me with the perfect opportunity to sneak in a contrived literary segue, Sacred Paws took to the stage. They were, for there were two, musical hypnotists and, as they would likely say somewhere like Senegal, they were also purveyors of both hypnotic repetition and one note elegance. The proof? At the back of the room, a wee skinny boy vainly attempted to resist the temptation to dance but, for him at least, there was no other option than to jerk his jive ass into gear.

Gamely providing entertainment for the intermission was Howie B. They say that you can take the man out of the DJ but you can’t take the DJ out of the man and, tonight, Howie B, with the skilled use of implied irony, proved that all that has seismic importance after the witching hour casts no spell at all before twelve bells.  A revelatory moment indeed and it, miraculously, stretched into apparent infinity. Try that at home and see how far you get.

Enter now the church of Ela Orleans. With the prim and proper demeanour of Miss Jean Brodie, she alternated between the intellectual and the spiritual in search of uplifting sonic enchantment whilst never forgetting that melody is the real catalyst for memories. Her always clear and present dedication to the art of music captured the attention of all that were in possession of a soul and, with understatement the key element in her performance, she made preaching to the converted seem like something so very right. I call her name for I'm a believer. Yes I am.

Two words to round things off- Miranda and Lambert. It’s remarkable to think that God made both Miranda Lambert and Ela Orleans and put them on the same planet. Existentialism is truly where it is at.



Reviewer:
Review Date: April 17 2015


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