With Cloth
St. Luke’s, 20 December 2024
Until very recently, Man of Moon were an unknown quantity to me when I noted they were playing St Luke’s on the Saturday night before Xmas. Given the quality of the acts that play the venue throughout the year, they were worthy of a spin through their catalogue on Spotify and YouTube to find out what they were about. Whilst it’s easy to criticise both platforms, and there’s more bad than good in them I’m sure, they do provide a glimpse of music that you’d have difficulty finding in any of the ‘traditional’ ways.
Further digging around in Bandcamp and Man of Moon described themselves as a two-piece alternative rock band based in Glasgow with krautrock, electronic and psychedelic elements. Ticks a few musical boxes here.
With sufficient information now in hand, a ticket was duly purchased with the added bonus of Cloth as the support act.
What emerged from the Man of Moon set was a wall of sound that floated in and around the audience for the best bit of an hour or more. Up close and personal at venues like St Lukes you can actually see how the music is all put together.
A slight nod of the head from singer/guitarist Chris Bainbridge was often the only cue required for drummer Iain Stewart to get things moving along. Aided and abetted by a synth, maybe some backing tracks, assorted pedals and a keyboard, the duo took us on an outward voyage beyond the confines of the venue. Stewart pounded away like a man possessed, though his smiles suggested that he was having the time of his life in doing so.
Bainbridge has a voice that at times sounds like Kurt Cobain and the music too had a similar resonance. The video sequence that accompanied each song was also a reminder of how the simplest of ideas can have as meaningful an impact as the sounds being generated.
Both bandmembers gave their all throughout the set and you can’t ask any more than that. As the music reverberated from the stage, the fans they have built up over the past few years were in their element, headbanging, waving arms and hands in the air and giving the positive feedback that bands look for. As Chris was keen to point out at the end of the set, this was the best gig they had performed at, and nobody was in disagreement with that sentiment.
Man of Moon may have been an unknown quantity before the gig. However, a trip to the merch table to buy the latest album Machinism is a clear sign that on the night they made the right impact and are on the ‘keep an eye out for their next gig’ list.
If you like music which is energetic, dark and loud then they should be on your list too.
Support Act
It might seem an odd pairing to have Cloth support the energetic, dark, Man of Moon, yet there was something dynamic about their performance which hinted at a side to their live shows that is not always obvious from their recorded output to date.
Rachel was in imperious vocal form, while twin Paul provided the necessary guitar lead to enhance each of the songs and this combination formed the perfect introduction to the night’s headliners On this evidence alone, their future gigs may well be worth a visit.
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