Six Organs Of Admittance

It takes an awful lot to get me out of the house on a Monday night. Not as much as it would to get me out of the house on a Sunday night mind, but still: Mondays are usually a no-no gig wise, especially on a cold November evening after slaving over a PC for eight hours. But for Six Organs Of Admittance I will gladly raise myself up and transport my weary limbs across town to Brick Lane to the salubrious surroundings of 93 Feet East.

Last seen in London back in August, Six Organs played at Cargo to a crowd hemmed in by over zealous security and subsequently bad vibes ensued. For these summer dates Magi(c)k Markers’ Elisa Ambrogio provided the musical foil to Ben Chasny’s weaving guitar (see Shain Shapiro’s review) and she added her own unique six-string accompaniment. Tonight - with John Maloney of Sunburned Hand of the Man (clad in a tasteful _'Process Of Weeding Out' _Black Flag t-shirt - nice threads, sir) providing shamanic skittering drums and Keith Wood from Hush Arbors ably backing up on guitar - is billed as a one-off 'band' show and the last (but one?) Six Organs of Admittance performance of the year. It's a veritable supergroup/power-trio culled from the heart of the nu-wyrd free-folk psych scene, or whatever you want to call it.

Ben Chasny starts proceedings with a solo acoustic spot spinning some complex finger picking runs. 'Words For Two' is rolled out with some astonishing embellishments as Chasny finds the sweet spot on his borrowed guitar. Awesome stuff.

'Strangled Road' _from new album _Shelter From The Ash is delivered early as Woods chimes in on second electric guitar and, even without Ambrogios’ backing vocals, it bristles with an eerie malevolence. As Maloney joins in on drums the dynamic is further shifted up a gear. The trio play with excitingly shambolic verve, songs teetering on the verge of collapse as the band feels their way through the set. Chasny dispenses with the guitar, letting it howl away to the side, as he grabs the microphone from the stand and intones some demonic chant and veers around the stage. For all their raggedness there is chemistry between the three players here, intuitiveness that leaves Chasny free to almost let rip and testify.

After an encore of 'Home' _from _School Of The Flower Chasny announces “That's all the songs we know, folks”. Thanks, and that's your lot. Always leave them wanting more. There are smiles all round though, and after a sometimes punishing 45 minutes we're out in the cold and home by midnight. It is a school night, after all.

Ben Chasny photo: Andrew Kendall