Live Review: Lamb

As entrances go, you can’t beat the instant charisma of Andy Barlow, arms up in the air, channelling the careless abandon of a recent stint in Goa. Raised high up on Astor’s stage and back-dropped by a halo of light, a certain messianic image is formed of the producer half of the Manchester-formed duo Lamb as he takes his place amongst the collection of keyboards and other hardware.

Jon Thorne enters stage right to mobilise his electric double bass as the anticipation builds, reverently satiated as vocalist Lou Rhodes majestically glides in. Suggestive of her position as a high priestess of performance, she’s attired in flowing couture much like a Grecian Princess Leia, embodying the inter-planetary themes put forth by Lamb’s latest studio album, Backspace Unwind.

Barlow’s reverberating bass line propels the trio into action as Rhodes stands regally in centre, hands on either side of the mic, gown draping, delivering the ethereal vocals of In Binary. This contrast of heavenly siren-call cascading over finely-produced, driving breaks and electronica is the sound that made the pair a revelation with the X-Generation, who have turned out in force for this, the first gig of Lamb’s Australian/New Zealand tour.

Strobe lighting and the drum‘n’bass beats of Little Things from ‘99’s Fear Of Fours LP sets those audience members standing at the front of the stage into movement whilst reminding the collective at large of how consistently diverse Lamb’s production is and how the pair so distinctively created a cult following by mixing up trip-hop, jazz, dub, breaks and drum‘n’bass for the better part of two decades.

Barlow then takes to the keys for the balladry of As Satellites Go By, followed by the stark contrast of heavy beats and deep, searching, soulful vocals of Nobody Else, that followed by Gabriel, which is met with huge applause. The crowd is then taken into jazzy territory with the irrepressible B-Line leading into the drum‘n’bass of God Bless, where Thorne offers up some nifty double bass.

Barlow and Rhodes both take to the drums for an encore of What Sound, leaving everyone guessing as to whether Lamb’s crowning glory, Gorecki, has been somehow inexcusably left off the play list, only of course to be proven wrong. Sublime and breathtaking, this peerless piece of work is perfectly performed as Rhodes’ haunting notes swell over the beats and bass like a wave of emotion magnificently finding its way home to the shore.

Still radiating in the Gorecki afterglow, the audience was then treated to a third and less emotional encore in the form of an extended psychedelic version of 1997’s Transfatty Acid.