These are The Gluts, Gina Birch, Hayley Newman and Kaffe Matthews, who are performing Cafe Carbon in various cafes around Copenhagen during the climate change conference. I was lucky enough to be at their rehearsal the other night and it was a privilege to see their frightening and charming antics at close quarters.
They have a menu of exciting dishes, and once you've made your selection, they line up and sing through the three songs you've chosen, which are all on ecological themes. The girls are like a compact swarm of crackling and rustling insects, with padded bumps, black pockets and antennae,
Victorian and mediaeval at the same time, they perform a sly burlesque with lots of quirky details- sometimes singing through megaphones, sometimes through microphones with clumsy red leads plugged into an amplifier in a black nylon shopping trolley, referencing Bananarama in a dark way that makes a negative mirror image of the three scruffy pop girls while making the audience think about what they eat and where it comes from.
The music is electronica with a nod in the direction of Kurt Weill, but also provides the three with ample opportunities for playful vocal percussion and harmonies. It is huge fun, and their three distinctive personalities come over really well.
The whole evening was exciting- from Hayley making us cups of tea in full costume, through the little bowls of bombay mix, the giant wall heater in the warehouse that bathed us all in a hellish red glow as it concertina-ed out of the high wall, and the high spirits as the trio lost things, found them, didn't find them, asked us questions, laughed and had more and more ideas as they went through two full meals of songs.
I love this sort of thing- watching a nearly-finished show buzzing before it becomes slick and polished.
They will be brilliant in Copenhagen, and brilliant when they come back!
Above: Gina and Hayley- I took loads of photos of Kaffe too but she moves so quickly she escaped from the frame every time!
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