Sweat drips from the ceiling of Cabaret Voltaire as one of Britain’s most hyped young bands roll into Edinburgh.
Mary in the Junkyard is a trio of youthful but wise beyond years musicians, consisting of vocalist and guitarist Clari Freeman-Taylor, viola and bass player Saya Barbaglia and drummer David Addison and tonight is their first time in the Scottish capital.
Loosely attached to the Windmill Scene based in Brixton which also spawned acts like Black Midi and Black Country, New Road, the fledgling three-piece have already supported Wet Leg on tour and this summer they released their debut album Role Model Hermit; an unsettling blend of dark folk and alt-rock that sometimes sounds like Bjork fronting The Breeders or Steeleye Span sheltering under grubby bridge.
Beneath a white sculpture suspended from the ceiling like a sinister wasp’s nest, the trio lean heavily into tracks from their recent debut like the wistful Crash Landing where Barbaglia’s bass rolls gently as Freeman-Taylot trills about opening someone up like a coconut.
Tonight, it’s a reverent, rather than rapturous audience but that just lends an extra layer of anticipation to songs like Blood, with its circling riff and cooed vocal.
For some Freeman-Taylor’s curiously childlike speaking vocals may be an acquired taste, but on songs like New Muscles, it’s clear that not only are there are some remarkable musical chops here but that they’re keen observers too.
New song Jane is a downcast character sketch, while the looping, loping Mantra III finds Freeman-Taylor cooing “it is yours babe, you deserve it” over gently tapped drums and squeaking strings.
As the set winds to a close the band jokes “Please buy some t-shirts, otherwise we’ll have to pile them upon top of us to get to Leeds on the train”.
There may not be much glamour left on tour, but after such a promising performance, you’d think the audience would be only too happy to take plenty of new t-shirts off their hands.