Saturday 22 June 2013

A BIT OF SOUL AND WEATHER

Hot! It was a week that contained actual and real heat. People were walking round in shades of reds, pinks and browns. A happy swagger had crept into the muscles of Medicinners, carried by an overdose of vitamin D molecules and warm backs. The mood was goood for Thursday June 13th. All the bands turned up in good time for sound checks, audience arrived in plenty of time before kick off (one of the good things about having an intimate room, regulars know you have to be diligent to get a good seat) and so the scene was set, as the sky outside gradually blurred into pastel shades and the heat rose up from the street outside and the Medicine Room descended into a calmed hush, ready for their treatments.


Cormac O Caoimh opened the night, this being a return visit for him. He managed to perfectly usher forth the change-over between hot day to balmy night with his ever so gently voice, a skillful guitar picking, plucking and strumming. Cormac seems to epitomise calm, his songs speaking of the quieter things in life, the small questions that creep into your thoughts whilst dreaming. Even his more fiercely approached songs, which see him wield a hollow body electric, are born of an easy going frustration. Cormac's set is just a delight to settle into and if you let the easy goingness of it wrap you up, you will be thoroughly chilled by the end of it.

After Cormac, local poet Alan Murphy took the chance to recite a few of his poems, it was unfortunate that most of the room had left for pint refreshing and cigarettes, now in the routine of having a break after the first act. People are almost too easy to train!


After the break, the weather broke. A Good Rain was falling.. well, not so much falling, but rising, or perhaps were the risers, creators of musical weather. What a storm they made! Four people, three with glasses, created such a rich tapestry of sound that at times it felt the room was filled with at least four more musicians. Percussion, rhythm guitar, cello and sometimes four part harmony, with two main leads, singing songs that are lyrically rich and musically lustrous, The Good Rain were just ace! Each band member played their part fully involved and with meaning and enjoyment and the friendship between the individuals was evident in secret nods and smiles and winks. It's always great fun to see musicians experiment with their instruments, something that The Good Rain seem particularly adept at. Front man Klaus, at one point using a cello bow on his guitar to create a noise not unlike a singing bowl and Leah the Cellist plucked, scraped and plonked her Cello, not to mention the delivery by The Good Rain percussionist, who swapped between Cajun, cymbals, shakers, tambourines and djembe, sometimes in the same song!

All in all, another great night to chalk on the long list of great nights of The Medicine Sessions

Until next time Medicinners! Cheers!