I should start by apologising to Matthew and to you, dear reader, for how late this Sunday Supplement has been delivered. It’s been a mental busy day, so busy in fact that I’ve had to abandon my plan to be at Toad Hall this evening for the inaugural home gig. Unfortunately Animal Magic Tricks had to cancel, but some eleventh-hour negotiations last night, combined with heroic dedication from The Japanese War Effort and Jonnie Common of Inspector Tapehead, both volunteering to step into the breach, has meant the show can go on. I’m gutted I can’t be there, but I’m sure Matthew will have a lot to say about the evening in due course. Watch this space, as they say.

Like Clockwork

Part of the reason the day has got away from me is, inevitably enough, the fact I was up until daft o’clock last night and then slept in this morning. Saturday had been a long day which led into an even longer night.

Moody, unpredictable and obsessed with its online popularity, and the other one's an antique cupboard! (Ba-dam! Tssh..)

I’d planned to pop up into town to take some photos of Cybraphon during the day, and Matthew, Neil (Meursault) and Fee (Mrs. Neil (Meursault)) all joined me. Matthew offered to drive and, as the Toad Van tortuously inched its way through the devil’s own Scalextric set that used to be Leith Walk before the tramworks arrived, people were actually singing the A-Team theme at us from the pavements.

There’s little that can I can write about Cybraphon that hasn’t already been said in the national papers or on CNN, but it was wonderful to finally meet the ingenious machine and to watch the hypnotic movements of its components as it came to life.

Keeping The Faith

Later, I went to photograph Mumford & Sons at Cabaret Voltaire while the others headed for the second night of Trampoline’s brilliant festival line-up.

There have been some hesitant notes of concern raised about The Mumfords on these very pages since His Royal Toadiness and I were first treated to their gobsmacking live show in Glasgow last year. While the general concensus is that the recorded output to date has been great, greying clouds of doubt have appeared on the horizon regarding whether they could keep up that sort of momentum, or indeed generate the variation in sound and texture needed to produce a really good album.

Were they a one-trick-pony or some sort of flash-in-the-pan novelty act?

Well fortunately, after their performance last night, I’m pleased to report that I’m reassured and that I’m a believer again. A fully-fledged, card carrying, fundamentalist Mumfordian. There’s new material to match anything we’ve heard so far in terms of quality, but importantly there’s variation to the sound. They haven’t stopped sounding like Mumford & Sons. They never could with those vocals. However, they’ve introduced new senses of tone, direction and nuance which bode well for the forthcoming album.

So you can happily ditch that “one-trick-pony” tag if you were tempted to start using it. I learned a lot about the band last night. I didn’t know, for example that double-bassist Ted could play the drums, or that banjo-toting ‘Country’ Winston could play bass. Or, indeed, that Marcus Mumford owned an electric guitar.

That’s right. Electric.

The Mumfords preach to the converted

Hang on. Bass, drums, electric guitar? That sounds like a regular rock-band line up, not a nice dependable waistcoat-wearing, barefoot, beardy alt. folk troupe. However, there were no cries of ‘Judas’ from the Cab Vol crowd, just rapt attention, an eagerness to embrace the new ideas, and that unmistakeable sense of communion that a band with a genuine following tends to create in a small, dark, sweaty venue.

Things are looking promising for Mumford & Sons. I’m sure they have something special in store for us when that album comes out.

My own personal credit crunch

I’ve tried to give myself a strict budget for August, in order to make sure I make it through to the end of the month without spending more than my pocket money will allow. However, unless I can get through the rest of the week on just eight quid, I’ve blown it already. This month is clearly going to be one big, daft, expensive horror story.

I can’t wait.

Cybraphon – The Balkan Bazaar

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Mumford & Sons – Little Lion Man

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Bedouin Soundclash – Money Worries

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.