David Kitt

Three songs into his set, David Kitt excused himself to answer a call of nature. "This next song is called ‘Kittser Goes For A Piss’," he said. "It’ll be performed by Know Your Enemy." With that, he left the stage, made his way through the audience, and disappeared for several minutes while his cohorts indulged in some avant-garde noodling.

The incident underlines David Kitt’s attitude to live performance, which is so casual, it borders on indifference. A little amicable interaction between the performer and the audience is always to be welcomed, but some of Kitt’s introductions were so convoluted, one couldn’t help but use the opportunity to order a pint at the bar or strike up a conversation with a complete stranger to pass the time.

Kitt is a fine song-writer. The singles ‘Song From Hope St.’ and ‘You Know What I Want To Know’ are as good as anything else around at the moment and deserve all the airplay they’ve been getting. OK, The Big Romance has its longeurs, and probably suffers a little overall from Kitt’s insistence of playing and programming nearly everything on it himself, but it remains one of the year’s better debuts.

However, the live work is badly in need of re-consideration. A human rhythm section, for instance, would surely be more exciting than the machine ‘Witless Writhing’, was how my companion dismissed tonight’s gig. That was a bit harsh. But the question remains: was doing Pat Benatar’s ‘Love Is A Battlefield’ intended as some kind of cosmic joke?