Thomas Truax - Love and Death, Belfast
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Thomas Truax,
Love and Death, Belfast
20th September 2012
It's been over two years since graced these isles and you can tell, there isn't a seat in tonight and people are crowding round vying for the best angle to see the mad scientist and his collection of home made instruments.
Firstly he brandishes the instrument known as 'The Hornicator', an old gramophone horn complete with strings on the end, a mic inside, a kazoo and various additional pickups. Lights go down and we begin with 'The Cannibals Have Kidnapped Our Nicole Kidman', he taps on The Hornicator to create a spooky beat, adding layer after layer of strings to create something quite astonishing. He then introduces another "band member", his drum machine 'Sister Spinster', what at first glance looks like an old toy Ferris wheel connected up to various small drums, bells and whistles.
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Apart from his guitar, every single instrument on show tonight has been made by Thomas and it's truly remarkable when it all comes together in 'Escape From The Orphanage' a song about his fictional home 'Wowtown' which decided that it had enough of the United States one day and just decided to break off and float away in to the ocean.
We reach possibly the highlight of the night in 'Full Moon Over Wowtown', where Thomas unplugs his guitar and myself and several other members of the audience follow him around Love and Death as he plays segments of the song in the cocktail bar, outside on a bench, in the back and anywhere he can get to. By the time we get back to the top floor we're completely out of breath and greeted to a huge round of applause and one entertained audience.
Everyone takes a minute or so to get themselves together and Thomas decides to take things down a notch with, 'The Butterfly and The Entomologist'. They say it's the little things that matter most in life and Thomas adds just that to this song, using an electric hand fan to strum his guitar rather than a pick, he creates an eerie but beautiful sound that really lends to the story within the song. Someone shouts out a request from the audience to play 'The Fish' and it's gladly accepted. It's a song he says he hasn't played in a while and he gives a great rendition not withstanding a few forgotten lyrics which the audience laughs off anyway.
We're approaching the end of the set and he decides to play 'Inside the Internet' a song that ponders upon the phenomenon of social networking and how potentially fatal it can be. Finally we end up with 'You Whistle While You Sleep' where he uses 'The Stringaling', a small drum with what seems to be a tumble drier hose coming out the back and a whistle on top. It finishes off a fantastical and mystical night with scary vocal harmonies on repeat, complete with Thomas' current worries as he pretends to sleep talk, "how am I going to get these things back through customs?".
James J Magill
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Comment number 1.
At 27th Oct 2012, MartinM wrote:This is a little weird isn´t it ;p
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