Monkey Swallows the Universe - lantern

There is nothing better than an evening listening to some of the finest music currently being penned. I'd had a fairly good day, book writing, milling in town, more work in the garden. And then chesterfield lost (not quite so good), so relegation is now inevitable, though not least predictable from this years performance. Just finished eating tea when ad came round to give me a lift. Never been to the Lantern theatre before, and had found the address from the internet, somewhere in the hinterland of netheredge. Map in hand we attempted to find the venue, but if you're familiar with that area you will know that a map is pretty useless. Roads run into each other, they change names, keep names though bear off on a tangent, and even as many as five roads can converge in a chaotic junction. A spiralling journey eventually took us past a road name that was recognised and the venue was located. An old victorian building, built by some rich cutler in order to have private viewings. I guess the equivelent to having your own cinema these days. It fell into disrepair and was renovated in the 1920s, and it made for a nice quaint venue. Holding no more than a hundred. The culmination of an easter tour that has seen mstu claim record of the week in the sun and bagged appearances on 6music and loose ends. The evening commenced with a fairly awful, if i can be conservative with my critique, stand up act. Obviously a friend of someone, who may well be funny in a pub after a few beers, but tonight told rambling stories that lacked humour or punchline. The musical support was from rory mcvicar, a singer songwriter of significant guitar playing talent. I'm afraid his music doesn't grab my attention and the pleasent tunes float gently by. He is joined by members of mstu for some tracks which is nice, and you get the sense that they've all enjoyed touring together. MSTU are superb, and already have a considerable set of tunes from which to draw. A number of new tunes are given their debut airing, and the quality remains high. All suggesting that the new album is going to be well worth the wait. The intimate venue and appreciative crowd really suited. Without dissecting each song, there is not much else to write without covering old ground. Suffice to say this band are great and i hope they get the recognition they deserve. Here's a little clip of a song likely to be on the new album to whet your appetite.

there's also a small clip of rory mcvicar and nat here