Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Whether it is the Winter and its bag of unfathomable woes or the thought of Spring hovering in the daylight air armed with hopeful future cheer, ME and Deboe just light up the room with their wonderful infectious in-sync guitar sound and the anger of a thousand years of female anger and frustration beating the drum in superbly made songs and lyrics that catch the attention of all who make their way to one of their gigs.
The engine room doesn’t sip below a 1000 knots per heartbeat even though the Spring has finally, you hope, usurped the relentless and beast like Winter, if anything the mechanism that binds the pair, Mercy Elise and Sarah Deboe, finds another gear, the guitars become machines, never stopping, persistent in their quarry and uncompromising in their delivery.
No matter how many times you see these pair of incredible women on stage, it feels like a new experience. You are left feeling both drained of all energy as your feet are subjected to trying to keep up with each frantic but well played note and at the same time invigorated as the lethargy is kicked into touch, perhaps even booted as far as humanly possible.
It is fair to say that ME and Deboe are arguably the finest duo playing today. The passion of heroes from a different era, the much celebrated Simon and Garfunkel, but with the vivacity in making music seem more that alive and heart stopping, the drive is 21st Century, the dynamic perhaps even unstoppable and all this with two acoustic guitars and a warehouse full of poise and cerebral attitude at their disposal. Of course others will disagree, that is the want of the world and what makes music so superb but until they actually catch them live how can they say?
With a few new tracks thrown into the set inside The Baltic Social, the real dynamic duo, no costumes needed, just an audience in which to captivate, vigorously played as the sun drove through the windows and released its late March strength in the arena. Forward, ever onwards in top gear should be the motto but instead such a great track to open any set with and with Glass Face, Friend and Here They Come being played in amongst old favourites such as the superb Just Go, Ten Toes, Mother Shipton and the awesome acoustic mix, the cover perhaps to end all high voltage covers, of Seven Nation Army and The Eurythmics’ track Sweet Dreams, it really was no wonder that in amongst all the fine dining, the clatter of orders and forceful attention, ME and Deboe were arguably the act of the weekend in the Baltic Social at this year’s Threshold Festival.
ME and Deboe are so consistent that to even find a fault would be as rare as finding Sean Connery and Harrison Ford discussing the merits of Fisher Price toys in your bathroom. Just another storming session from the finest duo around!
Ian D. Hall