Llanfairfechan-born Manchester-dwelling weirdo Edwin Steven made a name for himself in the city’s DIY scene as a part-timer for various other groups. With No Handshake Blues, Steven slips into outsider rock swaggery under his Irma Vep moniker.

The LP’s 11-minute opener ‘A Woman’s Work is Never Done’ is a Faust-by-Velvet Underground droner; rising haggard strings and mantraic phrasing slowly meld into a glorious wall of noise. But further listening puts the beginning of No Handshake Blues on the wrong footing, as tracks like ‘The Moaning Song’ and the title track sound more like the intimate experimentation of John Fahey’s late period than the work of any noise rock ensemble. This, along with brief outbursts ‘Plod’ and ‘Hey, You!’, portrays NHB as an LP of soaring, writhing lo-fi pop and comparatively unrefined song-sketches; Irma Vep is noticeably at the heights of its power with the former. “RARE opportunity to see the full band!” reads the poster for Irma Vep’s upcoming performance at Glasgow’s Old Hairdresser’s (29/3); let’s hope that the psych-jam branch of the ensemble’s sound appears full force.

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Though the character of Irma Vep and the atmosphere of NHB are definitely worth the time, the outing occasionally sounds like a bridging point into something great and presently unknown.

Dafydd Jenkins
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