Music > Live Reviews

Sweet Baboo

Norwich Arts Centre

02/12/17

The hard truth is, Cardiff is a round trip of over 500 miles away (as I well remember, having driven there and back for a football match at the Millennium Stadium a few years ago). This may perhaps explain why Stephen Black (aka Sweet Baboo) has not made it back to Norwich in over six years. Back in 2011 he supported Slow Club at The Waterfront, and remembers 'having a nice meal on a boat in the river'. Tonight he is at Norwich Arts Centre, touring with backing musicians Rob Jones and Paul Jones, and fresh from the release of new album, Wild Imagination, on Moshi Moshi Records.

Support comes from local hero Pete Murdoch, formerly of Sargasso Trio but now performing under the nom-de-plume, Birds Of Hell. Murdoch plays with a band tonight, who together add percussion, synths and backing vocals, conjuring an extra dimension to his already highly individual style. They play re-vamped arrangements of old favourites like Los Yarmouth and I Love Saturday Night, and the heartbreaking Practice Punching My Hands Son, before ending the set with a new song, a shamanic musing entitled Do I Get To Ride On A Unicorn? Bird of Hell continues to be one of Norwich's most captivating and compelling live performers. Watch out for the album.

Sweet Baboo is another moniker that gives little away by way of genre clues. Is it a pet name for a loved one, or perhaps a typo error of baboon or bamboo? Is the sweetness nothing but a red herring dressed in sheep's clothing?

As the band takes to the stage, and Black appears with hollowed out electric guitar, those who have not seen Sweet Baboo before may still be wondering what this band are all about. The man himself looks like an amalgam of Paul Simon, Mike Myers (circa So I Married An Axe Murderer) and David Mitchell, and as the set progresses there are traits of all three that emerge – the songwriting and vocal brilliance of Simon, the respectful retro-philia of Myers and the deadpan self-deprecation of Mitchell. These combine to create one fascinating persona. During the evening he alternates between acoustic, electric, and bass, shortening the strap each time he is required to swap instruments with the considerably taller Rob Jones (who also plays drums).

The set contains songs from Wild Imagination, including of course the title track, and also a song about badminton, called Badminton. Introduced as Sweet Baboo's version of an Eminem-inspired 8 Miles rap battle, it instead translates as a wonderful and rather touching love match with the tension and pace of an unmatched singles rally.

An earlier song, Walking In The Rain (from 2015's The Boombox Ballads), was reputedly written to give the BBC something different to play through live sporting precipitation interludes, a possible alternative to the usual Um-ber-ella, ella, ella... from Rianna or Travis' Why Does It Always Rain On Me? In response to a topical and meteorological heckle from the audience, Black obligingly agrees to change it to Walking In The Snow, and manages to correctly amend the lyric in every single instance save one.

There is a cover of Jonathan Richman's My Baby Love, Love, Loves Me – the band have committed to learning and playing a different cover on each night of the tour. They will by then allegedly have enough material to never have to play any Sweet Baboo songs ever again. The lyrics are written on a scruffily folded up piece of paper produced from Black's pocket and taped to a keyboard.

Lost Out On The Dance Floor is a 1980's disco homage, apparently rejected by the record company but available as a donation-based download in an semi-organised campaign to get it to number one in 'Doctor Fox's Singles Chart'. It is one of a number of songs tonight where the retro vibe created curiously reminds of Graham Fellowes, and of his 1970's alter ego Jilted John.

The final song of the set is Clear Blue Sky, another track from Wild Imagination, which starts as one might expect before subverting with brilliant irony into a barrage of effects and acoustic distortion. And all preceded by a wideball discussion on how many branches of Maplins there actually are in Norwich.

A second cover provides the encore. This time it is a repeat outing for last night's version of Thin Lizzy's The Boys Are Back In Town. The lyrics run to two sheets of crumpled paper, but the band are determined to nail it before tomorrow night's homecoming gig in Cardiff.

And nail it they most certainly did. Anyone present at Norwich Arts Centre last night will have enjoyed a totally engaging performance hosted by one of this country's finest exponents of deadpan indie-folk dance pop. And that accolade holds true from whichever side of the Severn Bridge you happen to reside.