A
rare gig outing with the daughter of the house, this one, and, rather than this
being an act I’ve introduced one of my offspring to (as is often the case with
gigs with Logan, f’rinstance), this is an act Jami has arrived at all on their
own! Lo-fi indie singer songwriter Cavetown, the pseudonym of Robin Skinner,
fits right into Jami’s wheelhouse; a transgender artist peddling melancholy lo-fi
bedroom pop, with the lyrical subject matter of trying to make sense of growing
up different in the fucked-up world we live in, therefore entirely relatable to
my gender-fluid youngest offspring. We’d already booked tix for the main
Cavetown tour in February 2023 promoting recent album release “Worm Food”, when
this opportunity to see him perform at closer quarters came along; a
HMV-arranged low-key and intimate performance at Bristol Fleece, with copies of
the new CD thrown in with the ticket price. It’s on a school night, but hey, carpe
diem and all that…
Not
feeling my best today, with an uncomfortable stomach pain, but sometimes you’ve
just gotta suck it up, buttercup! So we changed into our fabulous fineries, as
required by Jami (my ensemble of pink Bigfatbig tshirt, light blue jeans and
white creepers apparently matching the trans flag colours – what a coinkydink!),
then headed off down the well-trodden route to The Fleece, Jami producing an
excellent Manga style pencil sketch of Robin on the journey! Parked up and joined
the already large queue half an hour before the 7.30 doors – this was a proper
anticipated one, no doubt! Despite our lowly queue position, we still snagged a
barrier spot, extreme house right, wherein Jami quickly made some like-minded
friends. I explained to J the significance of this particular spot, and my explanation
came to pass, as Robin (accompanied by a couple of minders) walked from the
backstage area (down the back at The Fleece, of course!), through the bar and
directly behind Jami and their delighted friends, to take the stage to cheers
from the devoted.
Solo
acoustic guy tonight, Robin strapped on his faithful road-worn guitar, welcomed
the crowd with, “I’m sorry there are poles in the way!” (that’s the Fleece for
ya, mate…!) and eased into the introspective opener “Fall In Love With A Girl”.
A quirkier yet still plaintive “Frog” was next up, Robin commenting on the line
of cuddly frog toys arranged by fans at the front of the stage, and putting on
a frog hat with, “I’ve been requested to wear this [for this song]!” “Juliet”
saw the otherwise very quiet and attentive crowd fill the, “shit, he’s so
pretty!” hookline, “Talk To Me” (J’s favourite!) had a more whimsical 70’s
folky feel, and the subsequent “Lemon Boy”, probably his most immediate
composition and my favourite Cavetown song, was jauntier with an almost
slacker, Lemonheads feel.
Some
subsequent numbers drifted by for me in a soporific, melancholy gossamer haze,
but I was left in no doubt as to the connection between Robin and his
like-minded, very young audience, the man regularly asking, “how everyone
doing?” and “hope you’re all looking after each other,” in his very softly
spoken way. “Wasabi” was stripped back and almost elegiac, detailing a
fractured relationship (Robin commenting, “I’ve written so many songs about the
same person… it was a bit cringe!”), the low, wallowing “Worm Food” (wherein
the audience held up multitude of fuzzy wiggly worms!) for me recalled 90’s
indie heartbreakers Wheat or Junior Corduroy, and the penultimate number, crowd
favourite “This Is Home”, saw Robin gently and deftly challenging the audience
for a singalong, deadpanning, “this is an old one, I don’t think any of you
will know the words!” Then Robin picked up a ukulele for a hushed final “Hug
All Yr Friends”, an apt message to leave his crowd with, before folding his
sole setlist into a paper airplane and launching it into his massive.
A pleasant if slightly uneven set for me, but nevertheless with a lot to like in
it, and Jami loved it which was the important thing. As Robin passed by to head
off backstage, Jami also got to hand their sketch to him, which made my
daughter even happier, and we headed off promptly (school night after all) for
a 10.20 arrival home. As I said, we’ve got the full band Cavetown experience
already booked for next year, but tonight was an eminently worthwhile solo
taster!
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