Six Organs Of Admittance

The shy, awkward man on stage, dressed top-to-toe in black, looks little more than the shadow of the man that took to the Royal Festival Hall stage just a few nights earlier, with psyche-rock superheroes Comets On Fire, and slew all eardrums from Waterloo to Basingstoke. Shuffling in his seat, beer fizzing up and out of the bottle after a swig too fast, he apologises repeatedly for the gremlins at work, their heads popping up at regular intervals to play havoc with what should be a simple, effortless acoustic set.

“I have a list of excuses…” says Ben Chasny, aka Six Organs Of Admittance, “…this isn’t my guitar…”

He tails off at the end of every sentence, his words dissolving into an indecipherable hum. His lyrics follow a similar pattern, delivered with overtones of embarrassment – the man is clearly unsettled to see so many faces staring at him, smiles fixed, whispering not a word during songs. He shouldn’t be – in front of those faces sits a man blessed with a special talent. He has the ability to hold court with nothing more than a battered acoustic and a few between-song quips. The technical glitches – microphone gymnastics and amplifier woes meaning that we never get to hear his cover of Gary Higgins' "cursed" 'Thicker Than A Smokey' – only enhance the intimate experience, adding humanity to what could have been an impersonal, by-the-book evening (tonight is well sold out, and I’d wager that half the attendees are press types). Songs from his latest collection School Of The Flower are dispensed lovingly, and received as if it were the late Elliott Smith up there, not an easily embarrassed (and very much alive) guy playing folk for nobody but himself and a few other Drag City aficionados. He’d better get used to the attention though – any man who can pen a tune so simple and charming, and yet so utterly captivating, as ‘All You’ve Left’ deserves high praise indeed.

Consider this mine. Yours will follow.