The Watson Twins & Greg Laswell – Slaughtered Lamb, London 25/11/09

07 December 2009, 09:00 | Written by Euan Mackay

(Live)

This was the first time I had seen a show at The Slaughtered Lamb and it has to be said, it’s a nice little venue. Upstairs you have a decent enough Clerkenwell boozer – Red Stripe on tap and a mean fish finger sandwich to boot. Downstairs, a tiny darkened room that was to play host to intimate sets from Vanguard Records new stablemates Greg Laswell and The Watson Twins, both of whom were showcasing their soon to be released albums.

“Fresh” off the plane and a hastily arranged matinee set at Puregroove, Greg Laswell took to the stage in front of an audience of about a hundred or so punters many of whom were industry bods. When I say stage, there was no actual elevated platform to perform on per se, but to suggest he sloped off into the corner and got started doesn’t really sound right.

Taking turns on both the piano and guitar, Laswell’s 30 minute set was made all the more entertaining by his amusing and self deprecating banter. Laswell has a strangely conflicting stage presence. On one hand his in-set banter is endearing, charming and funny, on the other his songs are morosely downbeat. That doesn’t in any way take away from the quality of his songs though which are radio-friendly and catchy enough to have you tapping/singing along before you know it. Set opener ‘What A Day’ saw my unborn child assaulting my wife’s stomach with its first baby kicks, presumably feet tapping throughout…

As an artist, Laswell is renowned for his covers (he recently released an EP of them). This set saw him play only the one – a unique rendition of Cindy Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’. It has to be said, it is unrecognisably terrific, if completely devoid of fun.

Headlining the evening were Louisville, Kentucky’s Watson Twins. As they kicked off their set they immediately disappointed a host of male audience members by announcing that they “had never hooked up with the same guy”. Setting that record straight early on, it was time for some more music.

Playing their relatively short set of dreamy country songs, the sisters aired some new material from forthcoming album Talking To You, Talking To Me which is set for release in February. Alternating vocal duties Leigh and Chandra serenaded the gathered crowd with a little help from long time collaborator and producer of new record, Jason Soda.

Highlights of the set included a slowed down and stripped back cover version of The Cure’s ‘Just Like Heaven’ which seemed to please at least most of those in attendance. Lead single from the new album, ‘U-N-Me’, stood up to the live performance challenge too and was well received. Despite it being an upbeat electric tune featuring a guest appearance from a MacBook and Pro-Tools, both sisters were at pains to assure fans that the move from their trademark acoustic sound is not permanent. Indeed normal proceedings were resumed for the remainder of the set as the vibe returned to their more familiar soulful harmonies and folky goodness.

On the back of each of these sets I would imagine that the record company execs in tow would have left suitably impressed with their latest recruits and will be looking forward to February when they hit these shores again, I did.