St Luke’s sails to the Shjips

This is a perfect venue for the Wooden Shjips. The converted church sees them play to a crowd of worshippers and paid up converts to the San Franciscans’ garage neo-psychedelia.

Support band, The Lucid Dream, are from Carlisle but their influences nod to sunnier climes and more hedonistic places. They mould baseball bat electro-beats, fuzz-tinged guitars, driving bass and call-to-arms vocals to outstanding effect.

The Shjips come on to bird noises and quickly get into their groove. It’s a groove that never leaves as the songs engulf your head. You swirl like water going down a plug hole with the pulsing minimal rhythm section pushing you round.

The whoops, shouts and dancing during ‘These Shadows’  by the majority of the audience see’s this church wish religion could evoke such devotion, as feedback howls around the venue, marrying perfectly with the psychedelic projections. A perfect night for psyc-heads.

Kevin Graham

Wooden Shjips: St Luke’s, Glasgow. Wednesday 12 September 2018

Links: Wooden Shjips, The Lucid Dream