Mutual Benefit & Cosmo Sheldrake – St John on Bethnal Green Church, London 04/03/14

I guess being named Cosmo Sheldrake was always going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s a monicker that intrinsically suggests a certain middle-class eccentricity, a love of literature and and a disdain for hairbrushes, and the foppish multi-instrumentalist, opening for Mutual Benefit tonight, certainly lived up to type.

That, however, is far from a criticism – much of his set is genuinely impressive, drawing on an eclectic and unusual range of ideas and sounds. His first song, for example, utilises Mongolian throat singing techniques, another invokes New Orleans creole, whilst the nonsense poetry of Edward Lear inspires his debut single “The Moss”.

These diverse influences, looped with synths and his own arch vocal stylings, at their best coalesce into a multi-layered wall of sound that falls on the right side of the clever/pretentious boundary, although he sometimes comes across as the cardigan-wearer’s Lemon Jelly- pleasant, but insubstantial and overly twee. An intriguing performance with the odd moment of genius, Cosmo Sheldrake may be a name to watch out for.

Jordan Lee, the brains behind, and sole permanent member of Mutual Benefit, is a more straightforward sort of guy. 18th century poetry and obscure found sounds do not feature greatly in his oeuvre. His influences come from personal experience; tales of love and loss collected during a period of itinerancy across the continental United States. His musical formula is simple, yet devastatingly effective- delicate strings, low-key banjo, multi-part harmonies and the occasional hint of electronica. It’s the kind of music made to be performed in a church such as this one; understated, melancholic, unabashedly emotional yet stunning in its beauty.

Their first song begins with an elongated instrumental introduction more Stars of the Lid than Radical Face, its serene elegance enhanced by the candlelit intimacy of St John on Bethnal Green. Unlike the Union Chapel or St John’s at Hackney, which are essentially box-like (albeit in octagonal form in the former case), this church has a proper chancel. This results, thanks to a trick of lighting, in the shadows of the violinists flitting across the back wall like ghostly waltzers – an unintentional touch, but one that only augmented the dream-like gorgeousness of the occasion.

Shimmering synths float in and out of the mix; a sudden swell of vocal harmonisation catches us off-guard and at times, even the chattering hipsterati behind me are moved to reverential silence. It’s a blissful performance, unreliant on bombast or gimmickry (although Lee does mention before playing “Advanced Falconry” that they’ve been offered the service of an actual bird of prey for their next tour, which might thin out some of the weedier East London types), and signficantly, never threatens to outstay its welcome. Sometimes, simplicity is the best policy.

• Photo by India Whiley-Morton.