Music Reviews

VENUE: Zoo Southside

TIME: 4:35pm – 5:25pm, 5–28 Aug

Walking into Saved feels less like entering a Fringe show and more like intruding into someone’s personal music lab. Two old home organs, a drum kit and myriad radios, cassettes and other devices populate the centre of the room, while Graeme Leak – Aussie by birth, now Scotland-based –waits proudly by his toys. We’re not intruding, of course – this storied maestro clearly revels in entertaining, navigating his miscellany with a blend of childish glee and stone-faced professionalism (something delightfully at odds with his unusual set-up).

Saved is so named for the salvaged equipment that powers the show – particularly the two 1970s-era Yamaha Electone organs which he sometimes plays simultaneously, tickling out melodies over gorgeously retro arpeggios and drum loops. And it’s this affectionate preservation – and occasional modification – of these instruments that shines through the hour, to say nothing of the rebellious way he plays some of them with very non-standard techniques. Leak warns us at the start there is “some text, but it doesn’t mean anything” –referring to some of the lyrical content that intermittently accompanies his looping, polyrhythmic compositions. As silly as these words are, there’s a comforting ordinariness to them that tallies perfectly with his inviting, homebrew spirit. He walks the tightrope between earnest and flippant with disarming ease, neither over-egging nor under-playing his abundant creativity. Inventive and charming, Saved is a joyful way to spend the afternoon. ✏︎ George

Sully