Malcolm Middleton @ Òran Mór, 10 Dec

 

The Òran Mór is laid out in seated rows like a Sunday service as tonight's preacher-in-residence, and one of Scotland's prime purveyors of ingenious self-deprecation, Malcolm Middleton, sets out to make everyone as miserable as the weather outside. Kicking off with the rather apt Cheer Down, tonight's performance – a self-proclaimed "Long, Dark Night" – is a stripped-down, acoustic affair, the bulk of which consists of requests bawled out with gusto from the loyal gathering. Everything from Fuck It I Love You to the deceptively upbeat We're All Going To Die gets the low-key treatment – complete with the occasional hushed singalong – as every embittered, lovelorn or lonely word reverberates throughout the room. The winning combination of Middleton's confessional lyricism and delightfully dour on-stage demeanour assures everyone here tonight that not only are they in good hands, but also, there's at least one other person here who thinks everything's shit. [Ryan Drever]