Komedia has a great function room; small enough to feel cosy, yet somehow, amidst a wave of loose 30 year olds all taller then me, I was able to have piercing electric chords go through me, all the way at the back of the room. This is when I knew My Baby, starting their first UK tour this year, would be special.
It’s really difficult to pin down what My Baby really is. The dutch trio clearly have a following, with some audience members screaming ‘spelen!’ (play) during gaps, and everyone else not having a care in the world, just swaying with big toothy grins (me included). My Baby’s latest single, Remedy II, has a 1970s rock band electric guitar chorus followed by a piercing bellowing beat amidst sounds of bells and shackles, which can only be likened to walking through unknown territory, somewhere you’ve never been before. The rest of their set list had gospel vibes, some roaring Jamaican elements (I even heard what I only describe as a techno toucans squawk at one point) that you can’t put your finger on. But everyone just swayed, they flowed. It was feel good. And that’s all anyone cared about.
Sometimes I couldn’t focus in and had to move nearer the front. Luckily, this only let me give in to the ever increasing powerful set, not being able to leave the clutches of the die hard-fans. The final piece I was not expecting was a freestyle jamming session, full of all the powerful, hypnotic beats I had already heard. And this is where I realised My Baby’s downfall. They are a great chill band, one to revise to. But by being so many different things, I can never pick them out in a crowd and by being part of so many genres, they become a collection of things. Each track wasn’t uniquely different from the next in the set, and I don’t know I could persuade someone to listen to anything more than their single: I just can’t see a huge vibe and narrative difference that I do with conventional albums.
My Baby are currently on their UK wide tour. You can find out where they are next on their website.
By Robert Bone
