Kid Harpoon seems like a very busy man. No, really - no sooner had he finished his support stint to The Holloways and The Wombats on a recent nationwide tour, the soloist embarked on his own national tour albeit at slightly smaller venues.
It was a tough choice on this particular Friday night - Forward Russia or Kid Harpoon: fate pushed towards the Kid at Clwb (yeah, Forward Russia was sold out) but let's get things straight, it isn't so bad at all. This boy is good - not great (yet?) but definitely good enough to warrant his stab at stardom having started out doing sets at Nambucca on Holloway Road.
With an EP available, it seems like the first tentative steps in carving out a route through the music industry which can be so gruelling. But the rewards are there, even if you have to play in front of no more than, say, 40 people in a Cardiff club. And the gentler, almost folk-like stylings are soothing and seductive. There are a few weak links in the armoury, but no-one's perfect - even The Clash wrote shit songs. In the first half of the set, there were a couple of numbers that slid into Chris de Burgh vs James Blunt mediocrity, and didn't sit particularly comfortably. Some of the lyrics brush against the banal, which is disappointing to say the least.
But wait, see it through, because as the set continues, and he reveals his full house full of aces - Late for the Devil and Riverside are two majestic compositions and will surely earn the Chatham fella a lot of acclaim. There is a reason why The Holloways are massive fans, and that reason is starting to spread like MRSA in a dirty hospital. If he continues to write songs as good as he undoubtedly can, any prospective debut album will be worth it's weight in gold. Probably...
Next up:
Nine Black Alps @ Sin City, Swansea
Viva Machine @ Clwb Ifor Bach
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