Minor Alps at The Shacklewell Arms
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LiliPut
The Shacklewell Arms, 25 April 2014
It's funny but to me Juliana Hatfield is almost mythological. For so many years she's been so huge and such an important part of my life, particularly during my teenage years, yet the world at large has rarely reflected how great she is in my mind. To me she is an iconic giant like Joni Mitchell or a pop superstar like Beyonce, yet to the mainstream she's generally unknown or considered an alternative pop leftover from the 90s. Add to that how infrequently she graces these shores and how she barely seems to age even though she's now into her late 40s, and you can see how she might seem unreal to me: some indie goddess singing just for me. That's why seeing her in the flesh (the last time for me was back in 2008), is always a surreal experience especially when it's such a tiny, tiny venue as it is tonight. How can someone as big to me as Juliana be playing the back room to some small pub on a tiny stage and close enough for me to reach out and touch her?
Part of this may be due to the fact that she's playing tonight as part of her new band Minor Alps, formed with Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, an old friend dating back to the early 90s who she covered on her self-titled 2012 album. Caws has his own dedicated following too, which is very evident tonight, and the crowd is divided into Nada Surf fans and Juliana devotees. Most of the Hatfield fans appear to be around me, which makes me feel like I'm not so alone in my feelings of her greatness.
The Shacklewell Arms is a strange old venue though. A little off the beat and track in a not particularly nice part of Hackney, the pub itself is tiny and the room at the back hosting the gig not much bigger. The band playing before Minor Alps, Lilliput, can barely fit all its members or equipment on the stage. Hailing from Sunderland (only the second ever band I've seen live from there, the first being the awesome but sadly forgotten Kenickie), they are a band of many beards and knitted hats. The first song they sound like a jaunty Fleet Foxes, the second they sound like Crosby, Stills & Nash and then, due to equipment problems, they do an acoustic cover of The Handsome Family. It's all very pleasant and the band seem to be enjoying themselves but they don't really stand out in the wave of folk-rock acts that have come in the wake of Mumford & Sons success (although they are definitely better than them). Treetop Flyers also had a great Crosby, Stills & Nash-inspired debut out last year but seemed to hardly make a splash and I wonder if Liliput might suffer the same fate despite the fact that they sound pretty good.
When Juliana and Matthew Caws finally make their way to the small stage it couldn't be a more humble entrance, firstly making their way through the crowd (as its the only way to get to it), guitars in hand. They also set up and tune their own instruments, motioning for the music to be turned down when they're ready. Juliana looks amazing, far better than when I last saw her in the flesh: back then she looked rather thin and ill. Wearing a simple outfit of a loose grey shirt and jeans, she's still incredibly slim but this time she looks happy and healthy and at least 15 years younger than she really is. Matthew Caws is as cute as a button too, not much taller than Juliana, he has a thick maine of silver hair and a cheeky grin: I immediately like him. Turns out he's sweet and amusing too, conversing with the audience and telling funny stories (pondering Bjork's height and the terrible paintings that surround the stage), which also helps keep Juliana smiling and laughing too. It's so lovely to see her so happy and relaxed: playing with friends surely does her good.
They start off with a song not on the album, I Wanna Take You Home, which is so simple and poppy I wish it had been. Caws jokes that we should all pretend that it's their big hit so they can play it again at the end just like bands did in the 60s. I wouldn't have minded to be honest, it's that good but the range of songs they go on to play - from the Minor Alps album to Nada Surf, Blake Babies, solo Juliana to cool covers - make me glad they didn't. What a thrill it is, for instance, to hear Juliana sing Out There from the wonderful 1990 Blake Babies album Sunburn. Not surprisingly the crowd goes wild for it and it gets one of the biggest cheers of the night. Elsewhere we get what Caws calls one of his favourite Juliana songs, Candy Wrappers from her There's Always Another Girl album and the gorgeous Live On Tomorrow from 1995's Only Everything, which is a true joy to hear again. Not surprisingly they also duet on Such A Beautiful Girl just as they did on Juliana's How To Walk Away album, which I'm sure sowed the seed to making the Minor Alps album years later.
There are plenty of songs from Caws back catalogue to appease his fans too and all are an eye-opening surprise to me: they are all really, really good and I can't quite believe I've never really investigated Nada Surf before this. In fact one of the highlights came when they performed Fruit Fly from the 2002 Let Go album, which Juliana herself covered a couple of years ago. Caws gets the whole audience to sing along at the end and everyone happily obliges: it sounds glorious and leaves him with a huge grin on his face. Also, great is the pair singing together on the Nada Surf song Inside Of Love, which sounds rousing and epic even though it's just two voices and two acoustic guitars rather than a full band playing it.
Of course there's lots from the Minor Alps album too and it all sounds fantastic, particularly I Don't Know What To Do With My Hands which sounds like the great indie pop hit that never was. Caws tells us that Maxon is named after an effects pedal "but that doesn't have anything to do with the song itself, it's just in case you were wondering" and it sounds great. On Buried Plans their voices blend into each other seamlessly, and they sound like they have been singing with each other for years.
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