• Reviews

• All
• Music
• DVDs
• Live
• Cinema
• TV
• Books
• Comic Books
• Video Games

Oct 13, 2023 By Jimi Arundell Photography by Jimi Arundell Web Exclusive

Drawing on indie pop and alt-country; Matt Edible & The Obtuse Angels first impressed five years ago with their debut album Stairgazing. Combining heartbreaking melancholia and oddball humour, it’s become a cult classic from the man who is widely considered one of the best underground songwriters in the northeast. Hull-based Edible now travels to Dubrek Studios in Derby to show off material from his upcoming second LP which sees him resurrect the ghost of 70s glam rock as heard on raucous new single “Mirror Shoes”.

Support first comes from local hopefuls Skeeve who eagerly blasted out a wall of sound that echoed the adolescent alt-rock feel of Ween and Weezer. Playing half indie classic covers (“Song 2”, “Supersonic”, “High and Dry”, ”Where Is My Mind? were all part of their repertoire) and half originals, it’s all a bit rough around the edges like most fledgling acts are. But given time, they might just be a diamond in the rough as their own stuff is much better than the knockoffs.

Next up, and it’s the welcome return of Vom Vorton AKA Tom Morton from Derbyshire indie pop quartet Lardpony. A one-man twee punk army, Vom Vorton is in the lo-fi ilk of The Vaselines, The Lovely Eggs and The Postal Service, jamming his telecaster along to basic drum machine beats as he champions the awkward outsider.

Apparently, he’s been absent from the scene for a full ten years and had he not said you’d have never guessed. Maybe it’s muscle memory or perhaps he’s been busy practising for a full decade, as each song is expertly executed. Go check out the brilliantly bitter self-deprecating ditty “Idle Hands” (“The devil makes these idle hands so I can punch myself”) and his revealing confessional track “When You Were Mine”.

Having very recently shed his skin as The Holy Orders frontman (Hull’s best and LOUDEST band called it a day with a ferocious finale in August), Matt Edible is free to pursue his solo project more fully. Although it’s not quite a single endeavour, he’s managed to build himself a bit of a Humberside supergroup as The Obtuse Angels include songwriter Sarah Shiels (also of The Dyr Sisters and FIRE: The Unstoppable Force) on bass and Kingmaker drummer John Andrew.

Matt is here to show off his currently untitled second album, the successor record to his debut LP Stairgazing which further extended the cult following of the favourite musician of your best-loved bands. The new material dominates the first half of the set at Dubreck, a small yet vital venue found in an oft-disparaged town which shares the same underdog spirit as The New Adelphi Club in Hull where Matt cut his teeth and can often be found.

Clearly in his element, Matt and co. are playing to kindred spirits as his gorgeous yet pained vocals sail over gritty glam rock guitars. Think Carly Simon (albeit from the mouth of an East Yorkshireman) meets the harder edge of T.Rex. Edible and Shiels’ pitch-perfect harmonies on “Cancelled” are stunning, “Triage” recalls the forlorn call to adventure of “Canadian Love Song” (an early gem single from his original namesake outfit The Edible 5ft Smiths) and skittish indie rock number “Dogdirt” just begs for a huge pogoing mosh pit. The latter half sees a return to more familiar songs including his twisted alt-country masterpiece “Astronauts” which feels truly epic when given the full live band treatment. The night ends with his newly launched single “Mirror Shoes” whose sardonic lyrics about the worst rock n’ roll indulgences and all-round selfishness combined with that colossal yet crushing droning riff sounds like Marc Bolan having chem sex with Marilyn Manson. I’m hoping the whole band will be wearing jumpsuits, capes and platform shoes the next time I see them – and I wonder if the Adelphi’s budget will stretch to glitter cannons and a cascading firework waterfall.