Night Shopping at the Moth Club - Asides (VIII)

What's cooler than writing a stone-cold folk-rock classic? Well, performing a stripped down version of that song, and halfway through, segueing into Dire Straits' 'Romeo and Juliet'. Last night, it was the perfect closer to Justin Sullivan's brief but lovely set at Hackney's Moth Club. 

Despite the occasional mutterings of complaint that Kevin Morby wasn't present - Sullivan used to drum for Morby and the latter's name loomed deceptively large on the listings for this free gig - we got just over half an hour of quality music. Unassuming, and with the look of a young Neil Finn, Sullivan is a magnificent talent. Last night his project Night Shop consisted of just him, a small acoustic guitar and a bass-pedal. It was more than enough. His songs initially can seem throwaway and simple; listen closely and persistently, though, and the complex, careworn lyrics rise to the surface. Indeed, with a few breaks here and there, Sullivan could (and should) be huge.  

Justin Sullivan, aka Night Shop

As I've already hinted, it was one particular song - 'The One I Love' - that blew my socks off. As with all of the great rock songs it kicks in like adrenaline with the bass taking the lead. Before you have a chance to breathe, you're swept you off your feet and barrelled along on a journey that traverses the parking lot, the bar and a bedroom strewn with dirty underwear. It then drops into a fabulous and eponymous middle-eight, culminating with a romantic call-to-arms that makes you swoon. I played it three or four times before the gig, and around twenty times and counting thereafter. Each play has revealed something new, the most surprising of which has been a gloriously hazy allusion to John Keats' sonnet 'On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer'. 

I followed the inscriptions to Keats' gold convictions

Love as big as planets and a force transcendent  

Not since Roddy Frame boozily overdosed on the poet in 'Release' have we been given a learned shout-out to the greatest of the Romantics. And ashamedly for a blog entitled 'Some Melodious Plot', I didn't actually pick up on that reference until this morning. Anyway, give it a blast, then come meet me in the parking lot and tell me what you think.