It still feels like springtime in the world of live music, with so many bands that have been releasing music finally able to share it with us live. For m(h)aol (pronounced ‘male’ I’m told), it’s been a longer break than for most, as tonight is the start of their first tour after a five year hiatus.
Openers Slug Puppie are a boilersuit-clad Bristol-based guitar and drums duo with a slightly punky edge, and are charmingly funny and tremendously absorbing to watch and listen to. In addition to single Cycle Home, they treat us to a cover of Robyn’s Dancing On My Own. I’m looking forward to hearing more from them in future.
M(h)aol – first band I’ve seen in over a decade to have two bassists I think – open with an atmospheric traditional Irish language song, which afterwards we’re told very amicably is “awkwardly” a Galway song about a woman who sends the English home. M(h)aol offer commentary on modern Irish and wider society (as well as a surprising number of references to the year 1912) set to compellingly textured post-punk guitar, basses and drums (check out No One Ever Talks To Us from current EP Gender Studies for an excellent case in point). Between songs (some of them only a few seconds in length), singer Róisín Nic Ghearailt absolutely charms, with a gentle self-deprecating humour that makes a M(h)aol show something akin to chatting to an old friend, who can crack jokes but who will also insightfully skewer poisonous attitudes to gender.