Concert Review: Carnivorous Plant Society – Wine Cellar  June 20, 2020

Carnivorous Plant Society deliver an immaculately executed set of their distinctive musical pastiche songs to an appreciative seated audience in the first of two shows last night at the Wine Cellar.

The band leader and creative influence is Finn Scholes, who plays trumpet, keyboards, tuba and xylophone tonight. A graduate from the University of Auckland jazz school. .

As is the rest of the crew. Tim Scholes on guitar. Alistair Deverick on drums. Siobhanne Thompson playing violin, xylophone, keyboards and percussion. Cass Basil on bass guitar.

The Society has been together since 2012, where they also all lived in the same flat. Today there are still three in one house.

I have seen them several times and have gotten to like immensely their unusual blend of music styles.

Tonight, the first show after the lockdown, and they seem keen to be out.

Opening number is indicative of their approach to music. Shopping Mall starts with single note trumpet. Then comes lounge music on the xylophone and keyboards. The drum and bass kick in and we hear surf music tones from the guitar.

Reminds me of the Joe Meek sound and originals like Telstar.

Phantom Finger starts with a gypsy style violin behind a throbbing beat. Then you hear Mexican trumpet and it sounds like a klezmer band. Guitar plays surf music licks and then the tuba resonates through your abdomen. Movie music a la Morricone.

That is the mix and match blend this group has honed into something distinctly their own. The parts all merge seamlessly and keeps flowing. No extended workouts or jams. Indulgence is kept down.

Graphics also are an integral part of the show and a few are displayed tonight on the wall behind. The one that starts tonight looks like a bacterium with a huge eye and mouth.

There are a few video cartoons behind some of the songs tonight. The art resembles that of the ancient Mayan codices.

Misty Magic Land has an odd and vaguely jazz sounding trumpet and what sounds like incidental film music. The graphic features a huge alien eating a man and then vomiting him out again. Disturbing, as Finn says.

Magic Eye has a vocal from Finn. Music sound subdued and ominous until a trumpet break and then everything speeds up and it feels exhilarating.

Take puts Cass Basil out in front on vocals, in a song about the environment. The music starts with melodic xylophone and is quiet and spare like the Young Marble Giants. Then everything heats up rhythmically and finishes with a nice violin. If it was Country, I’d call it a fiddle break.

Mexico is a tune they’ve rearranged or remixed from its version on the album. The violin starts slow and soulful. The drums are also subdued. The tuba then grumbles but quickly builds up and tempos quicken.

Bob Dylan (the song) has a slow jazz guitar intro by Tam for a change. But it builds with melodic flourishes and ends up sounding cowboy western swing.

Agatha was one written in lockdown.  Finn says it is not topical. But it opens with a bass rumble and high keyboard tone. Tom-toms add a funereal tone and the vocals sound similar to Morrissey. One of the darker songs.

But the darkest one is the first set closer, Carp in a Pond. All sombre and moody until the trumpet comes out. The players speed up and then the music builds into a crescendo. A Day in the Life Society style!

Come back for two more.

The Bogan and the Kid is about Invercargill, where I take it Finn grew up. Trying to make sense of miserable lives, he says.

Down the Misty Hill is full brass band. A great Latin sounding song to finish.

A band that grows on me, although I liked their oddity the first time around. Many elements in the mix, definitely jazz but also very melodic and not too cerebral. This resonates in the heart and the gut as well as the head.

Have a listen fans of Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Tom Waits.

Have just been let loose. I ask about further shows. They are to happen but keep an eye and ear out for when.

Rev Orange Peel

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Ivan Karczewski:

Set List
Lovers in an Apocalypse 2
Shopping Mall
Phanton Finger
Children of the Yard
Misty Magic Land
Magic Eye
Take
Mexico
Bob Dylan
Slave Song
Agatha
Temple Kiss
Carp in a Pond
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The Bogan and the Kid
Down the Misty Hill