Deeeeear SIR!!” barked
Matt Greener the first time we heard his seething, bold vocal. It was opening
up ‘Work’, the lead track off their ‘Drawing Shapes EP’, their debut for Parlophone
(Home Of Coldplay™). “We can see that you’re sla-ckING!” he continued, asking
“what’s a movement if you don’t move?”, spitting out bile, strapping on his
boots, and stomping through the long disturbed grass of a blustery, bruised pop
song, the sort probably not heard since The Waterboys hung up their lungs and
stopped trying to blow the charts down. It was stirring stuff, improved on with
some momentum by subsequent singles ‘Gone Up In Flames’ and ‘Be All You Want Me
To Be’. Quite an opening statement and proof, as we took it, that indie pathos
with pianos needn’t subscribe to the p’s-and-q’s etiquette framework laid down
by Keane. “Deeeeear SIR!!”, barks Greener, opening their largest
London headline date thus far – and you know it is only thus far. Only it’s not
so much a bark right now, under these expectant lights. It’s more “(…dear sir)”,
an understated “hi, am I interrupting, by any chance?”. Some things don’t
quite match up tonight, not immediately. The high altitude view from the otherwise
unremarkable KCL Student’s Union bar, overlooking a twilight Thames and glittering
South Bank, should be abundant in metaphor for the position they find themselves
in, being groomed as an apprentice Coldplay. Only it just sits there, redundant.
They look nervous, which might be fair play on some level, but betrays
the unflinching confidence of their recorded output. They seem lucky rather than
capable far too often. Straightforward where we expected complexities, anonymous
instead of confrontational. From a distance they raise the prospect of contributing
little more to the arena than Embrace or Starsailor already have. Hardly a compliment.
Nice tunes, if that, trotted out adequately. When the emotion that is all is absent,
there’s nothing. A shell. But there is more lurking behind that dark fringe of
his. There has to be. It gives him an air of vulnerability that can only help.
And possibly a bit-part in Hollyoaks if all this falls through. ‘It’s
Not Like Everyone’s My Friend’ finally creaks and gives way half a dozen songs
in, audibly and substantially, like there is something of weight on those shoulders
after all. ‘Oceans’, whilst polite and sedate, does speak well of their qualities
as songwriters, and is performed tenderly. Words can and do leave his mouth as
viscous projectiles too, like they were sourced from a much more volatile environment
than this. But for pulling all the right moves, they still seem reigned in. They
jump, carefully, and the earth doesn’t move. Surprise. It’s almost like the songs
aren’t given the liberty to speak for themselves. They deserve a second
chance. They do. Potential isn’t manufactured, that part’s real. But before they
head out to promote what will inevitably be an immaculate, awesome (we’re talking
scale here, not to be affixed with “dude”) debut album next year they should perhaps
roll around in that dirt they only hint at understanding, lose a tooth, graze
a knee, collect some scars, build a character. Maybe swap some tunes for a piece
of Pete Doherty, they’ve got them to spare. And he isn’t exactly rolling in them.
Deeeeear SIR… we just hope we won’t have to write again. Relevant
sites:
http://www.morningrunner.com
James Berry for Crud Magazine 2005©
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| 04/05 British Sea Power - Live - Scala, London
04/05 Eels - Live - Royal Festival Hall, London
04/05 Doves, Elbow, Longview - Carling 24 , Manchester
04/05 Joy Zipper, ICA London
04/05 The National - 100 Club, London
04/05 Redjetson / Liberez / Twentysixfeet - Marquee, London
04/05 The Warlocks - Bethnal Green Working Men's Club
12/04 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - ULU, London
12/04 Elbow - Live -Brixton Academy, London
12/04 Franz Ferdinand - Live - Alexandra Palace, London
12/04 Morning Runner - Kings College London
12/04 Carling Weekend Reading Festival 2005
12/04 Sigur Rós - Brixton Academy, London
12/04 Crud Top 20 Albums 2005 |  |
January 2001
July - August 2001
September - October 2001
November - December 2001
January - March 2002
April - July 2002
August - December 2002
January - March 2003
May - August 2003
November 2003
January - March 2004
April - September 2004
October - December 2004
January - March 2005
April - December 2005
January - August 2006
September - December 2006
January - September 2007
October - December 2007
January - May 2008
| | |
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