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THE FLY (review of T In the Park)
"Can you turn the disco lights on?" requests frontman Stuart Gillies. Thing
is, what would happen? Yessa De Paso's BPM, and indeed volume, clocks in close to zero for much of their set.
Remarkably
for such a quiet band the audience adopts a reverential silence for most of it - all that can be heard is the muffled thud
of the Slam tent.
Its not all Slowcore, it should be said - but even tracks like "Cargo Bay" are driven
along by xylophone rather than standard percussion, and "Summers Here" - the bands sole 'upbeat' number - clocks
in at under a minute. ("Rather like summer itself": the entire T In the Park audience.)
The soothing tones
would be appreciated by revelers at the back, chilling after the previous evening's excesses, as Yessa's set is ideal Sunday
listening, consisting of songs so slow and fragile you fear they would break if the drums kicked in. Yet it's still fantastic
pop music, designed for hiss-free digital radio. "Snowman" would grace any stage, or station, while "Sharpen
The Knives" has to be the quietest and possibly most suicidal-sounding songs ever.
Praise indeed.
JOCKROCK
(review of T In the Park)
So, freshly showered and disinfected, we make our way to Kinross again. A bit of a long lie
following the late night means the first act we encounter is Yessa de Paso in the Secret Tent, and they're on the form that
saw them easily win through their Dundee T-break heat.
The set is still engaging - at one point Stuart wanders
offstage to find a capo, so the band simply start without him. The sound is oh-so-quiet, but miraculously the audience adopts
a reverential silence.
Annoyingly we miss the start of the set due to messed-up running orders again (when will
organisers of festivals realise that late starts are an occupational hazard, but early ones can screw up the dedicated festival
goer's schedule completely!)
Anyhow, "Cargo Bay" and "Snowman" are simply great, as ever, while "Sharpen
the Knives" has to be one of the quietest and possibly most suicidal-sounding songs ever. Praise indeed.
EVENING
TELEGRAPH ARTICLE
Yessa De Paso are looking forward to their T-In The Park appearance on the T Break stage - provided
they dont do away with each other during rehersals.
Stuart Gillies and the band have, though, risked their health
and sanity by spending more time in the rehersal room, not someting to be recommended by their past experiences in the claustrophobic
surroundings.
"We've been rehersing for the past couple of months which is quite hard for us, because we
always seem to fall out all the time.
"As soon as the rehersals are over everything's fine but put us all in a
room with instruments in our hands and we want to kill each other, " he added, with his tongue at least partly in his
cheek.
In keeping with their laidback, considered, lo-energy style, the gig schedule in the run up to T in the
Park a week on Sunday has been less than frantic.
"We had to cancel a gig in Wales last week which was out
of our hands unfortunately".
But if Yessa De Paso aren't exactly cramming the gigs in at the moment, then
the same can't be said about their recording prowess.
"We managed to get seven tracks down in one session,"
Stuart said. "We even finished a half written song which was great".
"I dont know how many songs will
make it on to the EP, probably about six. But we've heard that a label is interested in our stuff already, so we'll see what
comes of that".
Stuart is a relative veteran of the T Break stage at T In The Park, having won through the
Perth heat of the T Break competition last year with M******* **** P***.
Despite that, he admits to being surprised
at being picked this year.
Yessa De Paso's build up begins in earnest with a TV recording session at the Doghouse
next week and a Perth gig with Laeto.
JOCKROCK (describing bands playing this years T in the Park)
Yessa De Paso -popular choice from the Dundee heat; hopefully their lovely quiet quiet songs will be audible in the tent
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