Thursday 25th May06 - iLiKETRAiNS, Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames and The Minor Fall at Piper Club (3/3) By Michelle Dee Photographs By David Robinson www.gigpic.co.uk

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3).

Photograph Gallery   The Minor Fall Gallery 1,   Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames Gallery 1,   Gallery 2,   iLiKETRAiNS Gallery 1,   Gallery 2.

After a well-needed drink and some more tunes from Alan including a spry number written by someone right there on Newland Ave, I prepared for headliners iLiKETRAiNS. By now most of you will know that for me, they took first honours at Beached 2005 and I had been waiting to see them again for almost a year. Having interviewed them a couple of hours before thanks to Hanna Sandman's multitudinous musical contacts, I was struck by the way I felt as they took to the stage.

Dressed as they were in their trademark British Rail jackets they are transformed. I imagine them as intrepid Norse warriors -possibly because of the beards- setting out on a voyage of discovery in uncharted seas.

I am jolted by dark mind altering chords; sounds and scenes erupt from every angle, in the space where genius comes perilously close to insanity. I look to Ashley cornet player and visuals he is stood beside an old fashioned film projector light glaring onto a screen erected on the backdrop. On to this makeshift cinema here is projecting images of a chess game each image seems to show another of the chessmens' moves. I try to follow the moves but fail miserably I decide to keep an eye on the white queen but lose her as the image flickers and fades. The song Rook house for Bobby is playing out sumptuous and powerful as each piece moves rhythmically until the king is lying on his side.

The song Fram follows with a twisted Nick Cave vocal quality, amidst the slow dark creeping sounds I notice with amusement that one of the guitars appear to be called Nigel. I become wrapped up in sinister sonic vistas; becoming trapped in the mystery and majesty of their masterpieces. To shake free I look once again to the projected image and find visual art fly dotted that appears to have a life of its own. David at my elbow murmurs compelling it sucks you in. The music asks whether you are prepared to take that final step, make your move; although cautious and contemplative do you dare to go the extra mile?

The images of explorers and frozen wastelands inspire and I hear/feel a gentle sea breeze in the music then underlying sounds creep like an approaching oil slick coming steadily in shore.

A threnody unfolds the tomb of Captain Oates appears then other graves of the loved and now lost. I ask myself how do these men comprehend such a thing let alone breathe life and give it shape and form, and meaning. The one I remembered from Scarborough comes next and I visibly thrill as the band give us the murderous Stainless Steel. Guy stands with violin bow at the ready then strikes a dark eerie chord as he drags the cat gut slowly across the strings of his guitar. I hear the line the monster you made me as a foreboding tale of woe is played out. I watch mesmerised as the bow is shredded and then flashed and whipped across the tortured instrument.

Sound and light merge; blacks and reds, shining silver and gold revel and rejoice as a single cymbal rings out from Simon heralding the end of an utterly compelling set. www.theminorfall.co.uk www.myspace.com/shutyoureyesandyoullburstintoflames www.iliketrains.co.uk www.silverstarmedia.co.uk www.gigpics.co.uk

Photograph Gallery   The Minor Fall Gallery 1,   Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames Gallery 1,   Gallery 2,   iLiKETRAiNS Gallery 1,   Gallery 2.

Photographs courtsey and Copyright © David Robinson 2006

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