Dot Allison has immersed herself in all that is cool and hip on the music scene for well over ten years now. Her virgin project, One Dove, were the perfect post-acid house dub-pop group, though they were criminally overlooked commercially. Since then Allison has survived a near-fatal car crash, delivered her debut solo album in 1999's 'Afterglow', freelanced as a DJ, and provided seductive harmonising on boyfriend Richard Fearless' Death In Vegas track 'Dirge'. Despite this she remains a peripheral almost mystical talent.
She certainly mixes with the right crowd; contributors on latest album 'We Are Science' include Sabres of Paradise/Two Lone Swordsmen techno boffin Keith Tenniswood as well as Grasshopper and Dave Fridmann of Mercury Rev fame. A little like her hip Hoxton neighbourhood though, Allison's sound - whilst engaging enough on record - is crucially devoid of serious substance and emotion in a live setting.
Her normally affecting and ethereal vocals become anathema under the weight of churning electro beats and the odd riff of rock guitar. There are plenty of sturdy tunes; 'We're Only Science' and 'Substance' are sparse electro thuds with curiously hypnotic hooks. As early as four songs into her set though it is evident that this formulaic blueprint will not be allowed to deviate far from its pre-ordained path. Consequently the gig becomes more exercise than enjoyment and you get the feeling that the crowd and even Allison herself see it that way too.
Occasionally the tempo picks up, the DIV-esque 'Strung Out', a case in point with its soundclash of guitar and live drums. The feeling that Allison would rather not be standing in front of ULU's small only semi-interested crowd never quite escapes the mind though, evidenced by the fact that she appears to have left the stage almost as quickly as she arrived.
She reappears briefly to run through a maudlin acoustic version of the wonderful One Dove classic 'White Love'. It is, however, shorn of the joyously uplifting techno thrill of the original. With the emotion run dry, it seems, sadly, Dot Allison may be just too cool for her own good.
