Adam Stafford, 17th c., and Martin John Henry

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Back at Stereo this weekend for the latest gig in a Threads-packed month. First on was Adam Stafford, who had one of those cunning looping devices – in the manner of KT Tunstall – but produced much less standard sounding music with it. Many of the pieces had complex layers of vocal harmony, not often involving words, but with an amazing range – right up to unearthly shrieks and siren noises in a couple. Each “layer” had an associated range of dance-moves or gestures (not in a really choreographed way, just that it seemed to go with the sounds) so it was like watching a man in the grip of an incredibly well-organised musical multiple-personality disorder (with maybe a wee bit of Tourette’s thrown in). It’s hard to describe – so you should definitely go and see him if you get the chance.

Next were The Seventeenth Century, featuring fiddle and cornet in among the usual guitars and drums, with an unusual and excellent kind of folk-rock thing going on.

And finally Martin John Henry – who was launching his new album (which was temporarily stuck in the Czech Republic over the weekend – but they didn’t allow this to dampen their performance at all).  As usual, more photos over on the Threads Flickr.