ATP’s Bowlie 2 // Day 3 – Butlins, Minehead 12/12/10

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Click on any image to enlarge | All photographs by Sonny Malhotra

With the strength of the weekend’s line up weighted heavily on Friday and Saturday, today starts off somewhat slower than it’s forerunners. Wandering over to the pavilion well after mid-day Peter Parker is the first thing we happen to catch. Not the most inspiring start to the days line up, the Glaswegian four-piece play little more than paint-by-numbers punk inspired indie, with feigned angry riot grrrl vocals and formulaic guitar led melodies. Needless to say we don’t stick around for long before heading off to see a different Glaswegian quartet, Sons and Daughters.

Wearing glittery black hot pants and knee high socks, Adele Bethel’s brooding voice swirls around tense rhythms tinged with folk sensibilities whilst Scott Paterson’s dual falsetto vocals echo in amidst the instrumentals. Their often-adopted conventional glossy pop mannerism is underscored by a slightly sardonic edge in numbers like ‘Gift Complex’, whose stops start guitar strums ring out over thudding percussion and an infectiously rolling, momentous bass line. There is something quite dated about their brand of bombastic indie pop but their performance this afternoon is much more captivating than I expected. Abrasive and flirtatious, numbers like the snare drum heavy ‘The Nest’ are delivered with conviction and the subtle undercurrent of contempt that seems to linger on Bethel’s saccharine tongue. As on record, Sons and Daughters are at their best on stage when they leave their rough edges un-smoothed, and shake up their shiny pop package.

Then, all of a sudden the year seems to be 1990 as Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, the brains behind The Vaselines, take to the stage. Formed in 1986, the duo are best known for Dying For It numbers ‘Molly’s Lips’ and ‘Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam’, famously loved and covered by Nirvana. Having broken up and reformed more times than I can count, it is pretty exciting to see the two of them standing side by side, guitars in hand. Riddled with riotously rude innuendo, filthy banter and a persistently sexual sense of humour, their set is undeniably special. The Vaselines are classic, the original Scottish ‘twee’ duo whose musical influence stretched further than they could ever have imagined when they penned 1987’s Son of a Gun EP.

In a sweet, rill tone McKee’s voice cuts through the gently swaying guitar twangs of ‘Molly’s Lips’ whilst the entire crowd sing along fervently and in absolute awe. Aforementioned ‘Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam’ garners much the same response as Kelly’s affected vocals growl below the joyous guitar strokes and subtle melodies just before the pair launch into an epic rendition of ‘Son of A Gun.’ Heavier numbers like ‘No Hope’ prove the pair can be a fantastic guitar band whilst eighties electro-pop infused ‘You Think You’re A Man’ shows another side of the band entirely.

Staying put under the sparkling Pavilion lights the air seems heavy with nostalgia and filled with excitement. Having signed to independent heavyweights 4AD last year ahead of the release of their fourth studio record My Maudlin Career, tonight’s headliners have long been associated with Belle and Sebastian, so much so in fact that the Scottish folksters featured in the original Bowlie cast.

Thanking the crowd for “coming to see us and not staying in to watch that tv show” Camera Obscura’s famously forlorn front woman Tracyanne Campbell seems to be in good spirits this evening. Tambourine zils shimmer and the guitar riffs cheery disposition grates against Campbell’s achingly hoarse, melancholic vocals on opening number ‘Swans.’ Delving a bit deeper into their back catalogue ‘Keep It Clean’ and ‘Let’s Get Out Of This Country’ are nothing short of beautiful with soft swaying guitars, sweeping emotional vocals, swelling strings and timid percussion. Closing with the epic encore of ‘Razzle Dazzle Rose’ Campbell’s voice is sweet, brimming with hope as many of the crowd’s eyes brim with tears.

Looking around it is easy to tell that the vast majority of people are just simply Bowlied-out, the romantic, earnest yearnings on stage unable to compete with the calls of the dance halls and DJ’s, but for the rest of us Camera Obscura were a truly stunning, if not understated, way to end the weekends line-up. Well, that and the truly entertaining cover band, Them Beatles.

Finally as the indie-pop twangs of Zoey Van Goey reverberate around the upstairs room, it is easy to see this weekend is destined to end as it began: bleary eyed and craving coffee, watching electricity pylons zip past my window as the car cruises down the motorway.

Sons and Daughters

Vaselines

Camera Obscura

Them Beatles