Stupendous
David Thomas Broughton offers one of the greatest cultural experiences of the early 21 century. I know that sounds a bit naff but reflects how I feel anyway. First off he writes terrific songs of great delicacy and beauty which he sings with a distinctive Northern-accented fluting high pitch.. But there's a few singer songwriters who can do some of that that - dtb stands out because those songs are built up out of looped licks and vocal tics, which then sabotage their own beauty as they incorporate more and more improvised, distorted and accidental noises into extraordinary soundscapes. These are all performed with a stage persona of rare intensity - at times funny, at times mystifying, at times challenging but always compelling. This Leicester gig had improvised participation from the local support acts who fitted in superbly. "He just told us to come and play," said one of them afterwards to me. "He said it'll probably be in E - it wasn't" he added with a grin.
Posted by Tim B on 23/11/2017
David Thomas Broughton, The Big Difference (formerly The Cookie), Leicester - 22nd November 2017
