Live Review: J Mascis, Adalita

Accompanying herself with the darkly glittering metallic twang of her electric guitar, Adalita gets things started with a short-but-slow set of tunes.  Adalita’s dressed in black and has a little femme fatale thing going on tonight as she aims to create a dark, haunting mood from broken-hearted love songs.

Striding onto the stage, J Mascis waves to the crowd without really looking at anyone in the crowd. His interaction with the audience is politely perfunctory, only occasionally tossing the obligatory lines such as, “Great to see you all here,” and, “Thanks for coming to see me,” without a hint of excitement in his voice. Mascis is just here to play and, kicking off with Listen To Me, it’s immediately apparent that his music will speak for itself. Playing solo, Mascis deploys his ample guitar playing skills to good effect, creating an accompaniment to his distinctive American drawl that shifts from blunted dreaminess that caresses to the fuzzed and distorted, washed-out noise associated with shoegaze. Despite his aloofness, tonight’s show is an imitate one as Mascis deals introspective moments suffused with melancholia. The response from long-time fans is rapturous as they swoon when they recognise songs and applaud solos.

Mascis remains indifferent, tossing out 15 songs in just over an hour. The effects on his acoustic guitar are seamlessly applied and he only really engages with equipment when tuning his guitar or looping parts over which he layers live elements. After dealing a selection of tunes from his recent solo albums, Mascis gets his time machine on, says, “Let’s go back to the ‘90s,” and starts playing Not The Same, which blurs magnificently into Out There. He subsequently focuses his attention on songs by his band Dinosaur Jr for the rest of the set. Stripped back to their most elemental form, these songs lose none of their power. At his most spellbinding, Mascis drops a mesmerising cover of Mazzy Star’s Fade Into You. Taking it up a notch, his falsetto soars on an extended version of Alone, which features some luscious solos. Mascis leave the stage quickly and keeps the crowd waiting for a one-song encore that turns out to be a cover of The Cure’s Just Like Heaven. Undoubtedly a songwriting legend of his generation, it’s easy to sink deep into our seats and be immersed in Mascis’ bittersweet sounds.