Malcolm Middleton / Human Don’t Be Angry @ Òran Mór, 15 December

Providing some self support, Malcolm Middleton sets this evening’s gathering in motion under his Human Don’t Be Angry guise, with a collection of slow-building, effects-laced compositions, intermittently interrupted by his wonderfully weary vocals.

It's a fairly bold project, relying on the patience and devotion of the audience to remain fixed on such languid, ambient odes, with certain tracks existing on nothing more than the terminal loop of a four bar guitar part; though it seems an inspired move for Middleton, whose gloomy disposition settles hand-in-glove with the wintry, ambient sweeps, tremulous, low-level distortion and bruising atmosphere which he coaxes from this simple set-up.

Returning as, well, simply Malcolm Middleton, we’re treated to a wonderfully merry-less, caustic, acoustic affair, which draws cheers for classics such as A Brighter Beat, and well-humoured heckling when Middleton’s first attempt at Death Love Depression Love Death stumbles and falls to a chorus of affectionate laughter. 

Tonight’s an all round intimate affair, with a familiar set and well informed, suitably cynical crowd: chants of ‘I've never been more devastated, I've never l felt more betrayed’ bringing tonight’s gathering that little bit closer together. Though it’s under his HDBA guise that Middleton truly impresses tonight, with his fresh material, providing a nice balance to a set of otherwise comforting, well-worn favourites.