The theme for this week's PAS diaries should be, I think, surprises. While it is bad form, of course, to actually tell you, the reader, flat out what is going to happen (thus removing the element of surprise, making the most boring ironic twist in the history of ever), it makes things a lot easier for me because I don't have to build it all up, finding some way of subtly linking the artists without making anything of it. This time is my time, people. Get over it.
So where to begin? How about Alex Hall, a youthful semi-shaven chap who looks like a wastrel but plays like a dream. His sweet and intimate songs have more than a hint of the blues in them and, while Alex's voice intertwines harmoniously with his intricate riffs, it becomes easy to get drawn in. Some brilliant breakdowns are scattered throughout the laid-back songs, played with an easy grace and practiced hands. Good stuff.
In a surprising turn of events, Alex Hall and the next act, Murray James, both hail from the same town (it's not London, in case you were wondering) and have even met before, but are not otherwise linked. How crazy, eh?
Murray James, surprisingly actually named James Murray, possesses what is possibly the most surprising and distinctive singing voice you will ever hear. He sounds a little like Louis Armstrong talking in baby-speak, which is a little difficult to handle at first. It does grow on you, though. It's a bit like those special albums that you bought, listened to once and put away because you thought they were crap, only to randomly listen to it again a while later and realise that, actually, it isn't all that bad, so you listen to it again, and then again, and gradually it begins to creep up that mental list of favourite albums until it reaches somewhere near the top, and it eventually occurs that you were a fool, an absolute fool, for not loving it the first time you heard it, much like everyone else who you try to show it to, who simply nod and smile nervously so that you might just let them go back home, to their families and their pets and their bloody Green Day bloody albums and WHY THE HELL DON'T YOU LIKE TOOL, FRED?!? HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE LATE-BLOODY-RALUS?!? You're a heathen. A musical arsing heathen.
The glorious Tinlin return again to PAS, which was a surprise to me because I didn't realise they'd be back before their Platform on the 20th May (which should be awesome). A couple of new songs freshened up Tinlin's set nicely, both with comedic edges and, of course, Tinlin's trademark exquisite harmonies and excellent, emotive musicianship. No more needs to be said.
The surprising thing about Abi Lanigan was how she could sing so incredibly loud for such a dimunitive lass. It was a bit like watching Keira Knightley singing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with all the excitable screaming but not the extraordinary weirdness.
Surprise, surprise, the
Portobello Acoustic Sessions is held every Thursday night from 7:30 at The Metropolitan bar, Westbourne Park.
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Sixx A.M. - The Heroin Diaries
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The PAS Diaries: Alex Hall, Murray James, Tinlin and Abi Lanigan
