Heartache, hopelessness, regret: all are grist to Mancunian band Wyatt’s mill. The foursome’s home city might be most often celebrated for postpunk, baggy and Britpop (excessively and tediously, some might say), but this foursome cook up another music in a different kitchen, an alt-country Keith Floyd drunk on the likes of Bright Eyes and Silver Jews.
Vocalist/guitarist and lead songwriter Harvey O’Toole boasts the impassioned, tremulous holler of former Black Country, New Road frontman Isaac Wood, while trumpet player Emily Mason plays more than merely a bit-part role, fully integrated in the sound and often lighting the way. A song early in the set finds O’Toole reflecting “I was never what you wanted me to be” – but Wyatt seem primed to exceed rather than dash expectations.
On a similarly upward trajectory is Tasmin Stephens, aka TTSSFU. Stephens first came to prominence playing guitar with post-punkers Duvet, and her solo project is a comfort blanket of sorts, albeit one that often has the scouring and exfoliating properties of wire wool. The set flits between fragility and ferocity – from the cooing, shoegazey fuzz-pop of Forever, which is like being caught up in a candyfloss hurricane, via the marvellously titled Cat Piss Junkie, to closer I Hope You Die, which lashes out with the bitter venom of vintage Hole.
Between songs, however, Stephens is a different person – all smiles and laughter. When someone requests Weekend, she initially demurs, branding it “too depressing”, before relenting and chastising herself for being too bratty: “How rude to say ‘I’m not playing THAT!’” Moreover, she’s backed by a band who are clearly also having the time of their lives, and the performance cannot be derailed by either rogue feedback or a faulty guitar requiring a swift switcheroo just in the nick of time for a solo.
“I can’t believe people are missing football to watch this!” Stephens exclaims at the outset. By the end, it’s not a belief shared by anyone in the audience.
TTSSFU + Wyatt, Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Thurs 26 Mar
words BEN WOOLHEAD
