Lisa Mitchell/The Low Anthem/David Gray – London Union Chapel

The Low Anthem

November 23, 2009

In her fleeting introduction, Jo Whiley says it’s near impossible not to have a good night in Islington’s Union Chapel. She’s right, but if the penultimate night of Mencap’s Little Noise Sessions is any indication, some acts tower over others in their use of the venue.

Lisa Mitchell is the first act. An ex-Australian Idol contestant, she’s been recently supporting Newton Faulkner on tour. Songs are faultless and catchy, stage banter is friendly and she looks like she belongs on stage. All in all, she plays a competent and pleasing set, exactly what is required as a warm up to the night’s biggest performance.

Sweeping onto stage dressed as hippies from the 70s with two of the best trimmed moustaches I’ve ever seen, The Low Anthem are greeted with a subdued air of bewilderment. Still a small name, particularly to the fans of David Gray, they begin with ‘To The Ghosts Who Write History Books’. It’s a quiet start that lulls an audience into a false sense of folksy warmth. A feeling that breaks the second the Ben Miller blasts the harmonica intro for ‘Home I’ll Never Be’. The evening changed tempo that second.

To say that The Low Anthem put on the single best performance I’ve seen is not an exaggeration.

Every song they switch instruments, every time producing something unexpected and spine-tingling. Going from an organ to drum kit seems conventional enough, but seeing someone jump from a harmonium to a musical saw is stunning, particularly as the harmonies from the saw collaborate with a bowed set of crotales.

Musically, the band is stunning in its range. The same can be said for the vocal depth. Often harmonising between songs, they switch from falsettos in ‘Charlie Darwin’ to brash and rough blues tones with no effort. Passion seeps through each of their individual songs without losing touch with the crowd. Towards the end of the set, Miller asks the audience to call the person they came with at the end of the following song whilst the speakerphone is on. As confused as anyone in the crowd, The Low Anthem affirmed their showmanship as the sound of chirping crickets came from every phone at the end of the song.

Spellbound, it would take David Gray a miracle to top their set, and unfortunately, he was upstaged before he even took the microphone.

Playing a mix of old and new on only an acoustic guitar and keyboard, the full fanfare of some of his greater tracks failed to shine through. A fully acoustic rendition of ‘Babylon’ ended up being flat in sound. A technical fault with Gray’s keyboard appeared to have put a dent in his resolve just before ‘This Year’s Love’ and he never came alive onstage except at specific intervals of guitar solos where self-indulgence in his music showed what could have been.

It wasn’t a horrible set though. It was just the misfortune of having a near-perfect support act. Everything that The Low Anthem did simply highlighted the things missing from David Gray’s performance. … Continue Reading

Various Artists – Radio 1 Live Lounge

Radio 1 Live Lounge

Another year, another compilation from Radio 1’s Live Lounge.  The collected covers and acoustic renditions of hit tracks has become a Christmas staple over the last three years, so how does this latest edition stack up?

Oh dear…

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Tegan and Sara – Sainthood

Tegan and Sara

Sainthood is an album will likely go by unnoticed in the majority of the public. For all of their brilliance in producing songs with intimate lyrics and superb hooks, Tegan And Sara have yet to make a huge impact in the UK, as they have done in their native Canada.

It’s not as if they don’t deserve the attention either.  Last year’s The Con was by and large praised by critics and fans alike in developing their sound, something that they refine in Sainthood.

Produced by Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla, all the tracks feel tauter and there are fewer light-hearted tracks as may have been found in previous albums.  That’s not to say that they’ve lost the dulcet charms of previous singles like ‘Back In Your Head’, rather that the album is a split of pulsating, beat-driven tracks and throwbacks to the teenage sound of So Jealous. … Continue Reading

Sunny Day Real Estate – Diary

Sunny Day Real Estate

When I was four years old, the majority of music in my life was from old Bollywood movies. I honestly believe that I was oblivious to the concept of rock at that time, let alone the sub-genres of grunge that was waning and the conception of ‘emo’ that was occurring that year. So, now’s as good a time as any to catch up on Sunny Day Real Estate’s highly influential debut, Diary.

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Lulu & The Lampshades – Feet To The Sky

Lulu & The Lampshades

Zombies, nipple tassels and pots and pans are listed amongst instruments used by Lulu & The Lampshades on their MySpace page. So, quirky would be one way of describing Luisa Gerstein and her band. Effortlessly charming would perhaps be another description for them.

Currently in London, gigging and promoting their debut single, The Lampshades aren’t the loudest, most psychedelic, most experimental or hyperactive band around, but who would honestly cares whilst listening to their songs?

‘Feet To The Sky’ is a song of two alternating parts. One half littered with plucked guitar strings intertwining with the vocals, the other with lyrics that flow with the ease of water into a tune that you inevitably sink into. In other words, it’s highly likeable.

As for the b-side, the sound is the same. With a slight hint of calypso, ‘Rose Tint’ is an aptly titled track that acts as a good addition to the main single, even though there is no real contrast in sound between the two.

As a whole, ‘Feet To The Sky’ is but a mere taste of what I’m sure Lulu & The Lampshades to offer.

Lightspeed Champion, London Highbury Garage

Lightspeed Champion

August 28th 2009

The release of Falling off the Lavender Bridge seems almost an age ago as I stand in line for Lightspeed Champion’s first UK gig in almost a year. It comes a day before his dates at the Reading and Leeds festival, seemingly gargantuan venues in comparison to the intimacy of the sticky-floored Relentless Garage.

Yep. This one’s for the fans.

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Left With Pictures – 1, 2, 3…Go!

Left With Pictures – 1, 2, 3…Go!

I love folk pop. Its something I really wouldn’t have been exposed to in my 19 short years, were it not for the likes of Laura Marling and Emmy the Great launching stunning debuts alongside the artists of Bella Union.

And so, I come to ‘1, 2, 3…Go!’ with high hopes for another band to add to my list of new favourites.

An almost-perfect piano line and harmonised “pa-pas” make up the first single from Left With Pictures’ forthcoming debut, Beyond Our Means. There’s really very little I can complain about regarding the song.

It starts with the bare basics of drums, piano and voice and builds to a synth-laden, layered and dreamscape-y ending. And with lyrics like “I wish the snow came round in the summertime, just to quilt the ground”, I’m completely won over by the undeniably sweet nature of the track, all delivered in a neat package that could delight OAP or child. … Continue Reading

Amazing Baby – Rewild

Amazing Baby - Rewild

Amazing Baby. Taking in that name I felt a slight giggle about imagining a ’90s superhero with the same name. Flying about at night while ma and pa think you’re sound asleep in the crib. Fighting crime with the powers of… woah, I’ve thought about this way too much.

Okay, back to the band now. Amazing Baby have either followed a trend at Connecticut’s Wesleyan University to form an electro-based band like fellow alumni MGMT and Chairlift, or there’s summat magical in the water/beer kegs at the campus. Either way, they’re the latest in a line of US bands that seem destined to make it big in Europe before their home soil.

Two singles have already been served up by the five piece. ‘Bayonets’ opens the album and ‘Pump Yr Breaks’ closes it. As singles, they do the job of giving a ‘sound’ that people can grow accustomed to. ‘Bayonets’ is a touch weaker though. The full pelt of strings in the intro is missed in the verses and to be frank, my attention wanes without it. On the other hand, ‘Pump Yr Breaks’ blasts through any of the drudgery of the album in a sound I could liken to the bombastic sound of Elbow’s The Seldom Seen Kid. … Continue Reading

Neil’s Children – X.Enc

Neil’s Children – X.Enc

It’s taken 10 years for Neil’s Children to finally release their full length debut album.  Not quite a Chinese Democracy, but still a long while in which songs have brewed, band members have changed and styles have come, influenced society and left like a dodgy politician.

Kicking off the record is bass-heavy ‘Motorcar’.  The spoken-word, distorted vocals don’t really add much to the album as a whole, but the rhythms and tunes that mull under it speak volumes about their sound.

Getting onto the most perfectly crafted track from the album, ‘I’m Ill’ is quintessentially indie pop.  It should be blazing through the playlists of the NME and XFM.  Fast-paced and with the feel of a love soured, the song is filled with catchy hooks and topping it off, the bridge is covered with “oohs”.  The tone runs superbly against the majority of the album, although the word formulaic springs to mind in how it fits in the mix. … Continue Reading

All American Rejects, London Roundhouse

All American Rejects

June 9th 2009

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