Music Town – The Complex – 27/07/23 – Live Review
by Killian Laher

Full details of MusicTown 2023 can be found here.

Leagues O’Toole and the crew at MusicTown have put together some fascinating bills for the MusicTown weekend at the Complex in Dublin. The first night was opened by Aoife Wolf. Performing with violin player ‘Ben’, she played a slow-burning set of moody rock. Her guitar playing punctuated Dilettante and Ringing In The Ear, before singing to a looped piano recording on Beyond Saving (which apparently this piano was!). An impressive set was rounded off by Wolf playing a solo version of the late Sinead O’Connor’s Mandinka which she pulled off admirably. A lot to admire here.

Next up was the pairing of Eimear Reidy on the cello and Natalia Beylis on the keyboard. They played two lengthy, droning pieces inspired by ‘the woods’, as they put it. While Reidy’s cello was at the forefront, Beylis’ keyboard playing sounded almost retro, creating a meditative effect, allowing one or two members of the audience to have a quick snooze!

Adrian Crowley felt a bit like the odd man out here. Unlike the others, he has been releasing music for more than 20 years and has a substantial back catalogue. This was ignored in favour of a set composed entirely of new material from an as-yet-to-be-released album. Beginning on solo electric guitar accompanied by a keyboard, the new material sounded excellent. One standout, Genevieve of the Mountain, featured Crowley’s warm and immersive guitar playing. After a few guitar numbers, he switched to the keyboard for an engaging drone piece, before heading off in a Bossanova direction (!) where he played a 100-year-old marxophone. While Crowleys’ music and voice are certainly evocative of Leonard Cohen, that only tells part of the story of a playful, very enjoyable set. On the evidence of this, the forthcoming album will be quite something.

Anna Mieke rounded off the night with a very polished set largely drawn from last year’s Theatre album. Backed by a keyboard player and a drummer, songs like For A Time and Twin had a kind of woozy, bewitching effect. After a time they were joined by a saxophone and violin player which really brought songs like Coralline to life, particularly on an impressive outro. Their mannered, polite version of John Jacob Niles’ Go Away From My Window was ignited towards the end as the drummer cut loose. Mieke was at the centre of everything, with a fine guitar technique on show and understated vocals charming the audience. It was an excellent night, showcasing some of the best of Irish music.