Arab Strap’s 2006 ‘retirement’ took prematurely from us a reliable source of amorous, bilious, bitter, tender, intoxicated brilliance, but if anything its two members’ creative output only blossomed further as a result. AIDAN MOFFAT detoured into poetry and prose (2008’s I Can Hear Your Heart), a gorgeous solo-with-band album of balladic pop songs (How To Get To Heaven From Scotland, one of 2009’s slept-on gems) and, almost inevitably, a sideline as a sex columnist. MALCOLM MIDDLETON, meanwhile, has quietly built up a fine back catalogue of some half-dozen solo records ranging from stingingly self-loathing and inward-looking to upbeat, widescreen declarations of love and even confidence. Who’d have thought it. Who, indeed, would have expected to see the pair reunited for a tour? While never remotely acrimonous, their split seemed to herald a parting of professional ways. Seems pretty matter-of-fact when you read the press, though – Moffat’s just completed a very promising new set of collaborations with polymath composer Bill Wells, due in May, and Middleton’s own itchy feet have led him down a new experimental path under the name Human Don’t Be Angry, in which “the guitars come first, and words second – if at all”. This is very much Moffat’s show, with his friend trying something new in support, and while any kind of onstage reunion would be a very unexpected and welcome surprise, there’s more than enough in their latest individual left-turns to make both of them excellent company.
Sat 5th March – DHP presents…
AIDAN JOHN MOFFAT with HUMAN DON’T BE ANGRY (MALCOLM MIDDLETON)
The Cooler
48 Park Street, Bristol BS1 5SG
Doors: 7.30 PM / £8.00 adv
http://www.malcolmmiddleton.co.uk/
