Ice Ice Baby

Stuart Maconie once played a track from the incomparable Seven Swans on his mighty, mighty Freak Zone show on BBC 6Music and I may have heard a mere one or two songs at other times on that sterling station of shimmering style, but it is very unusual to catch anything by the young prince of music Sufjan Stevens on broadcast wireless. Imagine my surprise therefore to enter the front parlour yesterday to witness flippin’ Kyran Bracken poncing round on ice skates, rehearsing a routine with a dainty skatin’ partner, while the beatific strains of Chicago from the immense Illinoise album cascaded aurally in the background. For those in the know, it was that lovely string bit. The television show is called, I am told, Dancing On Ice. This might or might not be the worst atrocity ever to hit British screens – I have no view on its merits – but the guy or gal who chooses the music has taste.