Lau have been nominated as best group in the upcoming Radio 2 folk awards 2014 , and have already taken the title so many times they should arguably retire the trophy. Combining towering technical skill with fluidity and an enviable emotional warmth, the trio of accordionist Martin Green, guitarist Kris Drever and violinist Aidan O'Rourke are perhaps the best live band in the country. As long-standing veterans of Celtic Connections, the sprawling roots music festival that helps keep Glasgow's blood from freezing each January, this date was practically a homecoming gig.
The focal point was the world premiere of The Bell That Never Rang, one of 20 new works commissioned for the UK's first New Music Biennial. Inspired by an image from Glasgow's coat of arms and composed by Lau in collaboration with string experimentalists the Elysian Quartet, the semi-improvised piece evolved from Drever's unhurried guitar figure into an 18-minute beast characterised by swathes of thrillingly queasy glissando.
As the quartet soared and plucked, Green, manipulating sounds from a bulky black box, brought an echo of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's c–osmic yearning. It was unclear if all the lights going out during the last third of the piece was part of the improvisational nature of the gig, but it failed to derail the performance, which was received rapturously. "Where can I buy that?" yelled someone as the Elysian Quartet hustled off stage. "I think Aidan's got it on his phone," replied Green, dryly.
Lau surrounded the premiere with over an hour of more familiar material, from the spry Horizontigo, with Drever casually flipping his guitar to add some seductive slide, to Save the Bees, a fleet instrumental with more than a hint of John Barry's On Her Majesty's Secret Service theme. During their magnificent cover of Lal Waterson's Midnight Feast, Green's escalating accordion became as thrilling and energetic as Jerry Lee Lewis: great birls of fire.
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