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Who says there is no tolerance left in this busy, busy, busy world? Several months ago, one Brendan O'Hare played the ringleader in a Glasgwegian sonic circus as a Mogwai/Arab Strap double bill casually evolved from drink-sozzled farce to drug-addled farrago. The fact that he has been allowed back on the boards in a new guise is mildly alarming. The fact that he has been allowed back here, on the very stage he corrupted last summer, is simply frightening.
Still, we've all passed a lot of water under the bridge since the, right? "We're very mild mannered", beams O'Hare, by way of introduction. "And we're from Scotland." Uh-huh. "And this is a song about shagging horses and drinking their blood..." Aroooogh!
Macrocosmica, if you hadn't noticed, is the latest vehicle for the inestimably hairy O'Hare and his musical perversions, from drumming for the Fanclub to galloping (slowly, like) with Telstar Ponies. Infinitely more vagabond than James Bond, he may make the odd reference to the universe out there, but Macrocosmica are anything but woozy space rockers.
Indeed, the words 'Sonic' and 'Youth' spring to mind as the foursome blast through their new 'Ad Astra' mini-album with a Cobain croak here, as spiky melody there and several screaming guitars in between. Good stuff it is, too - natural and instinctive, music made by music lovers.
The only snag is that Macrocosmica can be too natural at times: with O'Hare spilling his beer and bantering with the audience, they come across as knockabout geezers (and, uh, girl in the case of bassist Cerwyss Ower) when you imagine that with a slight shimmy towards the world of deadpan they would compare very favourably with, say, a speed-pummelled Six By Seven. Then again, unlike the latest Tango commercial, Brendan would surely be the first to say 'never knock a knockabout'. Another O'Hare Bear Bunch then, anyone?
Simon Williams