St Jude's Infirmary - Cabaret Voltaire @ Edinburgh

It's not often you leave a gig pondering the ancestral connection between Robbie and John Coltrane.

Article by Billy Hamilton | 17 Mar 2006
It's not often you leave a gig pondering the ancestral connection between Robbie and John Coltrane. Yet St Jude's Infirmary's languid performance not only creates this genetic conundrum, it is dysfunctional enough to imagine Hagrid himself concocting it. With the release of debut album 'Happy Healthy Lucky Month' this should be a triumphant celebration. What evolves is a drearily agnostic affair, bereft of passion and hampered by temperamental sound. The reverberating bass lines fail to compliment the band's elegiac posturing, and any whimsical poignancy is lost in the cavernous setting. The band's distinct lack of interest is apparent throughout, with a rendition of Will Oldham's I See A Darkness seeping into Beth Orton-esque ambivalence. Recent single The Church Of John Coltrane feels so bloated and uncoordinated you wonder whether it's really an ode to the Coltrane of Celtic descent. Unlike Robbie however, tonight's offering was not a 'Cracker'. [Billy Hamilton]