Being a little bit of a Johnny-come-lately as far as steps of any sort are concerned I’m afraid I can’t tell you what Johnnie Common used to sound like when he was a ‘he’ rather than a ‘they’. I got into these lads by seeing the full band lineup play a superb set in support of Au Revoir Simone a couple of months back at Nice ‘n’ Sleazy’s in Glasgow. This weekend at the Fence Homegame I think Johnnie will be playing a solo set, so I’ll get a better idea then.

The full Down the Tiny Steps band show was fantastic, and as I said back then, they are a band of small gestures. There’s something about their two early albums – 16 Bit Sparks and Two Little Ducks – that has a confidently sparing quality about it. Johnnie clearly doesn’t feel obliged to throw everything at a song like many lesser songwriters do, choosing instead to use just that chord change, that rhythm or that tangential theme that is needed to give the song its heart, and no more.

This may sound odd given they use everything in their performances, from electronic gizmos I don’t know the name of to indie guitars, and in doing so manage to go from indie to downbeat electronica to sensitive singer-songwritery in a matter of moments, but it’s true. At the gig I remember their guitarist Graham Norris often playing no more than the odd repeated strum every once in a while, but it had a much more powerful effect that way. Listening to the albums, Common does a fair bit of that himself a lot of the time. He seems to have a thought, or a bit of an idea, and thereby crafts a song. It can be no more than a couple of lines long, or based around a single chord change, but it works.

There’s a new album on the way apparently, one with the full band. If I bump into Johnnie this weekend I will beg and scrape with no thought for my own dignity and hopefully persuade him to grace me with an advance promo copy – and all for you, my wonderful brood of Toadlets. For now, the first single, Aye Spy, is out and can be bought from the website, along with some of the earlier solo stuff. If you want a listen try their myspace page, as it’s up there too. For non-Homegamers, they are playing Nice ‘n’ Sleazy’s on the 26th May with another of my Fence favourites, Viva Stereo, in the first ever De-Fence gig – the electronic offshoot of recalcitrant folksters Fence Records.

Down the Tiny Steps – Revenge
Down the Tiny Steps – Set Menu The best song LemonJelly never wrote.
Down the Tiny Steps – Hold On From 16 Bit Sparks

Down the Tiny Steps – Papyrus
Down the Tiny Steps – Lighten Up From Two Little Ducks

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