We dropped by the Custom House records launch party the other night with just enough time to catch the first band, which, luckily for us was Rebecca Closure. When we saw her a few years ago, her stage antics and imaginative approach to performance and songwriting kept a bemused smile on our face for weeks. Fond of themes, audience participation and synchronised movement, (skipping, boating) tonight’s show was all about builders and had many of the old Closure touches... expletive song titles for one (the mantra-like C*ntstar springs to mind).
The boiler-suited Closure gang upped tools for ‘Fair a la wanka’, a song about fairground workers that leaned on the word wanka as percussion and with the music recreating the dizziness of the rides, which had Rebecca spun out and flat on her back by the end of it. Coming to, she picks up a midi clarinet and they’re away with 40,000 - think disco, Yellow Magic Orchestra with dance moves thrown in. Following on with a couple of pumping 80’s inspired zombie disco tracks, the set ends on Tom Tom Club-esque new single Captain Bailey, a song about a boat letting water in so the girls on it have to row to shore. A drop-down in the middle of the song invites audience members, preferably nautically attired, to get on stage and do some rowing. Musical flair and passion for performance hide behind her oftentimes surreal shenanigans, creating the unique opportunity of shaking some serious booty whilst being thoroughly entertained.
