Carmen Rosa + Earl + Kurt Cooder + Kite Season + Rossco - Messclean, Portsmouth. 14/04/06.

Those Messclean chaps are busy putting their fingers in many pies and on many sausages and one such project is a short tour of the south for the three main bands performing tonight and this very night kicks the tour off on their home ground to a receptive audience that are left drowned in a sea of varying sets and sweat.

First and third on, are the yin and yang of acoustic artists Rossco and that man again Kurt Cooder. Rossco has the short straw of taking to the stage first while people are still arriving and letting the first couple of beers soak in but from the sounds that drifted over to me it would appear we have a decent singer/songwriter in our midst and a none too shabby voice that compliments the well crafted indie guitar tunes. Kurt tonight ditches the electric guitar in favour of an acoustic set and while it softens the tunes slightly there is no escaping the gritty lyrical tales and observations of life, while Rossco makes you feel like whiskey being sipped down in front of a fire, Kurt makes you feel like you have a rabid dog with teeth sunk into your ankles hanging on for grim death. Both are fine performers in their own way and produce strong sets.

Perched somewhat awkwardly between these two are Kite Season who are still searching for a drummer and produce a semi-acoustic set of quirky indie that just doesn't hit the spot for me tonight. The tunes seem to lack a focus and meander along without direction and my first thought is along the lines of 'if they had a drummer and were fully electric then we may have something good to listen to'. But tonight they just sounded a mess and a few people drifted to the bar unable to fully grasp the sounds; I hope that next time Kite Season will be more rewarding as there are some interesting ideas going on but they just need developing a little more with a full band.

Londoners Earl are the kind of band that I fully expect to see gracing the pages of the national music press within a couple of years, they have a fully developed sound and are fine musicians producing a pleasing take on country/folk indie rock with a nice line in fiddle to round it off. Having said that, on a personal level I find it slightly one paced and far too nice in that Keane/Coldplay kind of way, not that they sound like either band, it's just that if you like those kind of big sounding but safe bands then Earl should be next on your list, get in there before they shift bucket loads of cds so you can say you were there. Portsmouth takes to them very well and the set is well received by a decent sized crowd; if they happen to visit Messclean again I would say check them out while you still can in a small venue before they start getting those bigger support slots.

Rounding off the night are local space cadets Carmen Rosa who have a host of fellow musicians in the crowd to watch them including Jim Shaw of Cranes which is no surprise as two of the band have featured in the live Cranes set-up in the past and they have a similar kind of out there appeal to them. The music of Carmen Rosa drifts in and out of focus, gentle waves of guitar and bass create sonic soundscapes that give way to crashing crescendos of intense energy before floating off into the ether never to return. Fortunately they never move into self indulgent mode and each lull and peak is essential to the moods of the tunes; it's easy to lose oneself in the washes of sound and totally forget where you are which is the beauty of Carmen Rosa, it's music for dreamers and drifters, music to transport away from humdrum life and into other worlds. Now that may sound like the wafflings of an old hippy but one look around during the gig and you can see that others are lost in their own little bit of time and space that Carmen Rosa have created for them, just enjoying the ebb and the flow of a beautiful band. An excellent gig for the start of the Messclean tour and I am confident that the Rosa boys will pick up some new fans along the way.