Matthew Herbert / Hello Skinny

Tom Skinner's Hello Skinny project is the support act for this evenings proceedings, Skinner himself a virtuoso drummer who weaves his sounds with drum kits, drum pads and all manner of symbols. The music is accompanied by live sax and a host of electronics to create a unique sound, at times funky, at times raveish and at times pretty far out demented; it piques the interest from the outset.

The track from which the name Hello Skinny was born from is the most linear piece of the evening, Skinner himself takes mic duties while looping electronics and Skinner's scatter like drumming prove a much needed bout of musical clarity. The rest of the gig has moments which impress, all three members are clearly talented in their own rights but as a project it seems to lack proper cohesion, straddled somewhere between genuinely impressive and self-indulgent, perhaps that's where it belongs.

Matthew Herbert introduces the performance with a little background from the album. In essence he wanted to create an album from the smallest unit of sound possible. The sound in this case being a 5 second sound clip of a drone strike in Libya which killed three people, whom he dedicated tonight's performance too. The album known as 'The End of Silence' aims to, in Herbert's words, "freeze history, press pause and wander around inside the sound."

There is no denying that this is heavy stuff and there is an argument that any art form that shines a light on serious matters to the plight of others is worth applauding. The terms 'dangerous', 'bold', 'innovative', 'thought provoking' are all terms which can be thrown at this work and at tonight's performance. On one hand it's very easy to proclaim a piece like this as special, and on the flipside it's easy to be dismissive as well.

Subject matter and concept aside on a purely musical basis it's verging on ludicrous. There is nothing to gleam from this music; it is a sorely painful experience which sees quite a fair few of those in attendance leave before the end. The album and gig are described as improvisational electronica and believe it or not, there is only so much you can do to a 5 second audio recording regardless of the hardware at your disposal. Tom Skinner is one of the four electronic musicians that are part of Herbert's collective for tonight's proceedings. On occasion his musical virtuosity threatens to make something happen but it's a mere glimmer of hope in a frankly absurd spectacle.

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