words: Jamie Milton
originally scribed for gigwise
They called it an ‘Indian Summer’, and we knew it was coming. It seems very boring to start a review with the weather situation but it did seem to dictate the days of everyone who eventually made it to the Hanbury Ballroom by 9 in the evening. What had preceded was a monsoon of sorts – rain, not just rain in fact: sheets of water coming down from the skies, constant, merciless. When you experience a long, dry summer it’s always nice when rain first arrives but by the time the day filtered out, life was pretty miserable. And so it seems particularly apt that once dry, covered and free from the onslaught, the gig-goer is welcomed by two of the most warm-sounding, wholesome acts around today, rousing enough to help you forget about the damp smell tightly wrapped around everyone’s clothes.
An annoyingly dry looking pairing of Swedish sisters, First Aid Kit, commence proceedings with just a single acoustic guitar accompanied with the kind of whimsy, perfectly-tuned vocal harmonies you’d expect from those related by blood. Their relationship is a little too intimate at times; on stage banter drifting off for those watching, but still clearly leaving a whole lot to talk about for Klara & Johanna Söderberg. Their set, albeit limited due to the lack of instruments onstage, is endearing, cuddly – just as good as a pair of warm tracksuit bottoms to put on after coming home drenched.
Fanfarlo begin minimally too. A stripped-down performance of ‘Drowning Men’, with just three of the six members on stage, remains uplifting despite its lack of the uplifting, arm-in-arm grandiose found on debut album ‘Reservoir’. Once fully-formed, Fanfarlo treat the busy crowd to an all-out rendition of said passion, intense but smile-inducing crescendos in ‘Finish Line’ and set highlight ‘The Walls Are Coming Down’. They manage to silence a rather talkative faction of onlookers who happened to put a slightly hindrance on First Aid Kit’s set.
But it’s only common sense to save the finest for the tail-end of the set. ‘Luna’ and ‘Ghosts’ – the closing pair – are the most energetic, fruitful tracks that ‘Reservoir’ offers, providing a refreshing get-up-and-dance aspect to the more static but triumphant bulk of the performance.
Once closed, the Hanbury Club only offers you the exit door, for which the rain awaits to plummet itself down on you more more. But the occasion gives you this false sense of bravery, prepared for anything. In reality, you’re back to being soggy and hopeless within ten seconds of leaving, but the memory of such a balmy night in the company of First Aid Kit and Fanfarlo is a comfort.
mp3: Fanfarlo – Luna
FESTIVAL REVIEW: Underage Festival
words: Luke Harris
The only gigs I go to these days are either half-filled with aged hipsters placidly sipping Corona (e.g. Growing) or packed-out with aged hipsters amiably dancing in whatever way they can (e.g. Animal Collective). Field Day would be much the same. Underage – next day, same field – looked to be a rather different affair despite sharing some of the bands.
To my disappointment Video Nasties got cancelled. It was something to do with timing; not just because they’re totally underrated.
Good Shoes played to what happened to be the biggest crowd in the Artrocker tent all day. Their straight-forward-but-well-honed happy indie guitar fare drove everybody apeshit to the point where you’d assume that they were headlining. After announcing that they were going to play “some new stuff”, their set began to resemble a Foals cover band without the annoying vocal delivery. It wasn’t a bad thing at all and I guess it explains what they’ve been doing for the past two years.
Next, Marina and the Diamonds sounded like a cross between Regina Spektor’s last two albums and somebody who’s a casual fan of Bat for Lashes. It was a shame that her beautiful voice was accompanied by such simplistic lyrics and an unimaginative session band. An energetic cover of Late of the Pier’s “Space and the Woods” was the highlight. Watch out for her on a major label near you.
In the “Youth Music” tent two drum ‘n’ bass DJs inappropriately warmed up the crowd for what turned out, unexpectedly, to be the best act of the day. First Aid Kit were two Swedish females (16 and 18 years old) who could easily have been 23. Their glorious vocal and guitar/zither harmonies were so expansive it was practically narcotic. Their lyrics were smart and unpretentious and, as if they couldn’t try harder to convince you that they were fully-fledged hippies, they even followed a Fleet Foxes cover with a re-vamp of a 60s protest song. Their set seemed to largely fall deaf on what few ears there were to hear it.
The XX played moody, slow-core goth tunes with satisfying confidence. Their huge drum-machine beats provided lots of bass-y stimulation. My friend remarked that it’d be “good come-down music”. I’ll have to take her word for it, but she’s probably right.
Santigold looked like a lot of impressive dance-y fun when she invited a load of crowd members onstage, but I only caught it so that I could see the start of Mystery Jets’ set. They sounded exactly like they did on record and I didn’t regret skipping quickly off to see all of The Horrors. Like at Field Day, their new songs were thrust onto you with gusto rather than covered all over you. This was completely welcome until they somehow managed to inspire a circle pit during “Sea Within a Sea”. I’m inclined to think that it wasn’t quite their fault.
Lastly, Patrick Wolf dominated the stage with his huge outfits and miniature string ensemble. After a cool first few songs he suddenly presented himself as this overzealous rock-star with a Flying V, preaching about how we were the children of the future and the importance of safe sex. It was absurd and apparently never tongue-in-cheek. He just about managed not to let it spoil things entirely by using his enthusiasm to try to continue the set after the 8pm curfew. The security were having none of it.
mp3: First Aid Kit – Cross Oceans // alt
mp3: Xx – Crystalised // alt
MFM @ HYPEM
