VESSELS @ BUFFALO BAR (22/04/09)
April 25, 2009,
Written by The 405
A Wednesday night spent in a the amazing Buffalo Bar with four bands that like to push the boundaries of sonic soundscapery? Yes please.
St. Francis entered the stage first and they were actually alright. Think In Rainbows era Radiohead with a post-rockier vibe and you'd be close to the mark. It would have been nice to be actually understand what the singer was talking about but as far as second gigs go they showed a lot of confidence.
Next up were The FM Flash. What I liked the most about this band was their ability to let the songs breathe. So many bands within the 'post-rock' genre subscribe to the same forumla of slow build up while demonstrating they have four different levels of distortion. Not with these guys though and I appreciate it.
Surely I couldn't like all four bands on the bill? Correct. Next up were Eat Lights; Become Lights and blimey were they boring. They definitely had a more up-tempo feel to them, kind of like when Boris go for it, just instead of ballsy/heavy rock they've exchanged it for a stadium rock sound. Not good.
The next part of the evening was the hardest, waiting for Vessels to start. Not just because I love the band and that I'd never seen them before but more the fact that the changeover lasted far too long. Did they make up for it when they finally set everything up? Hell Yes. A true sign of quality is making a 40 minute set feel like a five minute set. Songs like 'A Hundred Times In Every Direction' and 'An Idle Brain And The Devils Workshop' sounded just as good live as they do on record, which I wasn't expecting. In fact, all their songs sounded faultless.
On the basis of that performance I'll definitely be seeing them again.
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1 response so far...
Rex Monday
I posted a comment before about this gig buts its gone now.
So...
FM Flash- Explosions in the Sky wannbees
Eat lights; Become lights- A lot better than the obviously plant/fixed reviewer reckoned
Vessels- Rock school widdle post rock
Chris - 15/03/10
You have the wrong Jamie T song up, this is unfair on poor Jamie... However I think Delphic kick ass too. [view article]
duncan - 15/03/10
is this really a debate? [view article]
fokkawolfe - 15/03/10
love this band! Blogged about them as well: http://fokkawolfe.blogspot.com/2010/03/tanlines-settings-ep-and-real-life.html [view article]
Rich - 15/03/10
She and Him WTF? (did you see what i did there?) "Well all right, it's okay. We all get the slips sometimes, every day." Wow, clearly Deschanel is the next Morrissey. I really like the new Laura Marling though. [view article]
duncan - 15/03/10
Well I find them boring. What's the appeal? Is it the 'they toured with Los Campesinos! so therefore they're good' argument? As for the 'surely due to hit the big time' comment, I'm pretty sure I heard that at this exact time last year about that album. When is this hitting the 'big time' going to happen exactly? [view article]