Kid Canaveral @ The Rum Shack, Glasgow, 27 Jul

Lost Map Records fifth birthday celebrations continue with a night of pop from Kid Canaveral and Randolph's Leap

Live Review by Amy Kenyon | 30 Jul 2018

DIY indie label Lost Map Records, run by Pictish Trail from the remote island of Eigg, invite friends and fellow performers to Glasgow’s Rum Shack Dancehall to celebrate five successful years of championing new music in Scotland and beyond. Although the dancehall is a 250 capacity venue, tonight it provides an intimate setting for energetic folk-pop band Randolph’s Leap who are supporting pessimistic post-pop headliners Kid Canaveral.

Adam Ross wanders on stage most unassumingly as though lost until he finds himself in front of the microphone and an eager audience. Ross opens with the track Hoping to See from their recently released Worryingly Okay record, and the room is silent as the singer performs with earnestness as if addressing each member of the audience individually. Once finished, the rest of the band arrive on stage like a musical flashmob. Although the band are renowned for more downbeat tracks such as Weatherman and latest single Television, they deliver an energetic set of songs that are witty, touching and entirely relatable. We even get to enjoy an uncanny Andy Murray impression from Ross and the crowd are inspired to join in with the onstage dancing from the band, who are captivating throughout.

Enduring misery-pop five-piece and stalwart representatives of Lost Map, Kid Canaveral headline tonight's show. Lead singer and vocalist David MacGregor jokes that the band will get on with the set to allow the audience to escape from the heat of the crowded venue, perhaps there is some truth to this as the band appear distant and there appears to be some friction between MacGregor and drummer Scott McMaster, who performs as though playing in an isolated practice room, destroying his sticks during a very heavily percussive set.

In the absence of bass and vocals from Rose McConnachie, the band tonight features Bart Owl of eagleowl on bass. Although the band appears to be winding down they navigate their way through a familiar set seamlessly. Three members of Randolph’s Leap return to the stage towards the end providing a much-needed second wind to the show, ending on a high that befits a birthday celebration.


www.kidcanaveral.com
www.randolphsleap.co.uk