My fault: even though Blancmange’s Living On The Ceiling was a staple playlist party banger in our teen kitchen knees-ups, I missed the era of the synthpop elders by a good decade or so, due to a debilitating case of the not-even-born-yets. I had Blancmange pegged as one of those art-school synthesiser projects, like Yello or Art Of Noise, that would attract a lot of silver-haired blog writers for some intensive chin-scratching. Maybe it was the band name; perhaps it was the way vocalist and sole original member Neil Arthur sometimes sounds eerily like David Byrne live.
Regardless, prejudices were shattered when the Blancmange crowd were revealed to be just out for a laugh and a dance; the music some of the best examples of the synth-pop era. A venue like Y Plas is a test of an artist’s crowd work skills, and the lively Cardiff lot had their fun with the relative quietness of the space to have their say on everything from the 1980s to missing their hair to the state of Westminster. Luckily for the band, Arthur had the wit to parry them all back, earning the respect of all the loudest contributors, and the whole gig quickly became very cosy and cheerful.
Blancmange’s setlist of fun synthesised love ballads and 80s social commentary set an easy, nostalgic tone which led, in a Footloose way, to spirited dancing and more affectionate heckling. The crowd were delighted to be heard, and Arthur seemed delighted to just be there, having fun entertaining himself with half-finished thoughts and goofy dance moves. Very much at ease – to the point where he was weirdly mesmerising to watch – the frontman impishly sauntered around the stage to a stacked roster of Blancmange’s decades of material, easily holding the spirits of my favourite crowd in the world, the Cardiff locals.
Worth mentioning too were the openers, Oblong: an instrumental electronica-style group driven by bass guitar grooves and acoustic instruments. Live, they were one of the tightest and more versatile warmup performances I’ve seen, sounding particularly crisp and fresh.
Blancmange / Oblong, Y Plas, Cardiff University Students Union, Fri 14 Oct
words JASON MACHLAB