Tunng – Purcell Room

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Why this gig?

This is the third time I’ve seen Tunng since I’ve started this site. I can only refer you to my previous comments.

Support

Support is from Sam Genders new band, Diagrams. Genders was one of the founder members of Tunng but left the band several years ago. Initially Diagrams look and sound a lot like Tunng, but soon the differences become clear. There are more people in Diagrams and this leads to a fuller sound. It’s also a more mainstream sound as they avoid the weird extras (strange instruments, taped sound effects) that give Tunng’s music its textures. That said, I enjoyed Diagrams and hope to see them again soon.

Headline

It’s a special show tonight. The show is part of record label Full Time Hobby’s tenth birthday celebrations and Tunng decide to commemorate this with a chronological set. They play two or three songs from each of their albums. They even start out sitting down (because that’s how they played back then).

It’s an interesting approach and it works well. You can trace how their sound has evolved from early songs like “Mother’s Daughter” and “Tale from the Black” (from Mother’s Daughter and Other Songs) through to “So Far From Here” and “Embers” (from their most recent album Turbines).

On the way, Genders joins them for “Jenny Again”. He reappears for the encore of “Woodcat” (the obvious song they omitted when they got to Comments of the Inner Chorus. I’ve now seen Tunng four times and on three of those occasions, Genders has joined them. Some times it’s heard to believe he has left.

All this was a great retrospective of a great bands work so far. The band are playing as well as they ever have and I hope they are looking forward to their next ten years as much as I am.

The setlist is on Setlist.fm.

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