Silver Apples @ Hare & Hounds, 5th August 2010

With Pram’s unfortunate and unavoidable cancellation, fans who had travelled as far as Manchester could not help but feel a little disillusioned. Although, nobody could foresee the treat that Pram’s Matt Eaton, under the name Micronormous, was about to lay out in front of us.

Armed with Scott Johnston’s (Film Ficciones) visuals, Matt began directing us on his quest into the magnificent, the dark and the alien world of Micronormous. ‘Rainland’ provided a real journey of amazement. Slow foot steps and progressive guitar riffs, accompanied by Hawaiian-sounding beauty and twinkling glockenspiel fairy dust, lulled a relaxed and dainty dream world into a state of reality.

“What is the magic that makes ones eyes, sparkle and gleam, light up the skies” sings a 1920’s sample, as though a spell is about to take place upon the stage itself. While creepy black and white visuals allow the journey to deepen into a wispy specter of twirling dresses, bringing both femininity and coldness to the reposed venue. Cutting and pasting a mismatch of genres, Micronormous is abled to whirl together the likes of dub-step, soul, jazz, funk and lounge rock into one swoop of a song, creating a genius blend of atmospheric sounds that can faultlessly lead horror into elegance and back again.

By now, Micronormous was becoming a legacy himself, readying the multi-inspirational Silver Apples to take over the stage.

As Simeon began playing ‘The Simeon’, a wire-cluttered home made synth created by a series of oscillators, the origins of dance music commenced, revealing themselves through industrial electronic repetitiveness.

It became clear how influential Silver Apples were on so many genres, planting the seeds with early elements of krautrock, punk and psychedelia, along with the pre-Throbbing Gristle avant-garde-esque ‘Dust’. The indie-sounding ‘Misty Mountain’ gave a cheerful and romantic experience “If you will stay with me, with my love and with my mind” sang Simeon, as though he was trying to bring us an affair from his heart. Yet the whole experience seemed a little unconvincing without Danny Taylor’s percussive elements, who sadly passed away in 2005.

Leaving Simeon purely oscillating synths gave only one half of the phenomenal Silver Apples experience.

Review – Ross Cotton
Photo – Kate Fitzgeorge

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