Kavus Torabi, Golden Lion, Todmorden 26 August 2024

Kavus Torabi might have had his busiest ever musical year, but it shows no signs yet of abating. A hectic schedule with Gong (soon to set off again on  a US tour), gigs with The Utopia Strong, touring with Miranda Sex Garden and now this, a significant series of solo gigs which saw him landing once again just down the road in Todmorden, scene of a triumphant gig with The Utopia Strong a few years back.

Much has happened since then. Kavus’ changing personal circumstances are captured in somewhat heartfelt manner on his second solo album ‘The Banishing’, a collection, as was ‘Hip To The Jag’ of acutely portrayed songs backed by harmonium, guitar (or both). It’s the first time I’ve seen him perform his solo act, its resonance amplified by the fact that it was Kavus performing from his (former) living room which was my first experience of live gig streaming, broadcast as it was at the dystopian height of the first COVID lockdown.

The solo set is intense and intimate. A quite bewildering series of effects boards covers the stage, but as these rest at eye level for those of us seated front of stage, it helps to provide a visual explanation of the sounds as they build up before us. There is the Selenish choir of the opening track, all multi-tracked vocals, whilst elsewhere songs are backed by waves of harmonium or loops of guitar arpeggios. The songs are stark and bittersweet. Highlights are ‘Push The Faders’, (‘I write sad songs with happy chords’, explains Kavus), the mesmeric guitarloops of ‘Heart the Same’, or the affirmatory ‘You Break My Fall’, whilst perhaps the most striking piece was an old Knifeworld number ‘The Skulls We Buried Have Regrown Their Eyes’, with its author effortlessly moving around the fretboard Frippian style whilst his voice soars above.

It’s difficult to gauge the crowd: normally ‘Camembert’ T-shirts give the game away, but on this Bank Holiday Monday the audience seemed a bit more difficult to pin down: old hippies certainly, some sharper dressed younger types, and definitely the odd Cardiacs emigree. Any reverie induced by Kavus’ more absorbing pieces was broken a little by a little inter-song banter, and in particular from one left of stage mobile ringtone, luckily only heard between tracks, although the fact that the call was eventually answered (somewhat loudly) mid-patter led to some sharp intakes of breaths around me: Kavus was relatively implacable but I witnessed for the start of the next track what could be the first ever instance of passive aggressive harmonium – its volume seemed to rise almost instantly!

This blip aside, it was a memorably immersive gig. Kavus was keen to emphasise once again that the Golden Lion remained his favourite British pub (he’s visited here in a number of guises in recent years), and proceeded to play 2 encores, a ‘prog epic’ and a ‘short pop’ number, in his own words. Neither were anything of the sort, of course, which rather sums up his own eclectic songwriting and particularly personal appeal.

The Banishing is available at https://kavustorabi.bandcamp.com/album/the-banishing

Gong tour dates in the United States available here: