As reunions go, Arab Strap’s return since 2016 has been an unexpected, but most welcome boon, with the sardonic Scottish troubadours producing two critically acclaimed albums, including this year’s superb ‘I’m Totally Fine with It Don’t Give a Fuck Anymore’, which could almost be a mission statement for the band’s re-emergence.
Supporting them in Dolan’s Warehouse is local chanteuse Laura Duff, a haunting presence who delivers a beguiling set of songs that, as she says herself, are “mostly about death and bad men”.
The buzz of guitars & expectation fills the Limerick venue as the imposing figure of Aidan Moffat bestrides the stage, holding immediate sway as they launch into Allatonceness. The rhythmic beats kick in for recent single Bliss, all delicious earthy remembrances. Dramatic piano and undulating bass underpin Sociometer Blues, a melancholic tale of temptation and betrayal “A slave to your rhythms, the beats of your drum. You love me, then leave me, then test me and taunt me“.
The Turning of our Bones is another snatch of everyday life, elevated to poetic splendour, while Girls of Summer starts off as an almost lively ballad and then beautifully transitions via an epic riff into a euphoric bliss-out, ending tenderly with Moffat’s raw vocals harmonising exquisitely with a delicate piano melody.
Compersion Part 1 is absolutely exquisite, before Infrared is introduced as an “old song about shagging“, it is elegance personified before erupting into a stunning cacophony.
The Shy Retirer, a perfect indie disco banger, delights the reverent Dolan’s crowd, before the deeply profound, and sadly all too relevant emotion-packed mantra of the Fable of the Urban Fox takes hold. The main set is brought to a sublime climax with Turn Off the Lights, which bursts into a magnificent wall of sound at its denouement.
The encore is, by contrast, a more sedate affair but no less compelling for that. Pack of Three is dedicated to Kirsty in the crowd, who reveals to all that she gave birth while listening to the track, which as Moffat states, “is quite ironic given that it’s a song about safe sex”. (Afternoon) Soaps “an old song, but a sad song” is a fitting conclusion to a night that has seen beauty drawn from the humdrum and elegiac.
Nearly three decades after their formation, Arab Strap continue to captivate with music that is as enthralling and life-affirming as ever, delivered with a mastery and honesty that is uniquely their own.
Photos by Colm Kelly in Whelan’s