INTERFACE

REVIEW

Paul Rooney: Songs and Routines

Reg Vardy Gallery, Sunderland
9 April – 16 May

Reviewed by: Stephen Palmer

Life can be drab, tedious and sometimes boring. The world portrayed in Paul Rooney's video works and songs is one where, on the face of it, not much happens.

Paul Rooney used to record his own songs as part of the band Rooney. Five early songs are included here, each complemented by a homemade video promo. The songs catalogue everyday events: fruitless attempts to tune a portable black and white TV in Pale Yellow; re-using old envelopes in Throw Away; and going down the shops in Walked Around the Estate. The accompanying videos document the lyrical content with a variety of clever devices – my favourite Throw Away is a sequence of yellow Post It notes stuck to a magnet festooned refrigerator door. The backing track attempts to 'lively' things up with the occasional buzz of fuzzbox guitar, grating over already low-level singing.

Two video works are shown alongside the songs. In Warm Up, the limelight has passed comedian Ted Robins by – he delivers his routine to 'warm up' the audience of TV's Stars in Their Eyes before host Matthew Kelly takes over; the programme features ordinary people showing off extraordinary talents – for a few minutes the celebrity spotlight is theirs. Ted's celebrity spotlight has sadly faded – his routine will be cut from the show's final edit.

Bar at the Town House after Manet and the Human League, speculates on another side to celebrity. The story behind The Human League's Don't you want me unravels in the thoughts of a woman tending bar and in those of her silent customer. The song tells of an ex-waitress who is plucked from nowhere and turned into "someone new", but she outgrows her Svengali, and dumps him. The impassively faced barmaid muses over the song – playing in the background – while waiting for the equally musing Rooney to order a drink. There's no communication between the two, each is oblivious to other's thoughts: if only they would talk, they might spark something off.

Dis-communication is important to Rooney; everyone's got a story to tell, yet sometimes things remain unsaid. If the words and the stories would out, things might be different – the mundane and the ordinary could inspire chance events and dramatically alter the course of things.

Writer detail:
STEPHEN PALMER
is an artist and [a-n] Production Assistant

www.stephenpalmer.org.uk

Venue detail:
Reg Vardy Gallery
University of Sunderland, School of Arts, Design, Media & Culture, Ashburne House, Ryhope Road, Sunderland SR2 7EF

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