This review may seem kinda of lopsided but in a sense all that can be said about tonight’s SAY award nominees has been said already.
Jesus H. Foxx, on the other hand are more of interest, in a way. Their album, several years in the making, seems to have rather disappointed many people, and sad to say, you can see the point. The rough edges that many associate with the band have been smoothed out and there’s almost an adherence to the folksy style that seems to be mandatory in Edinburgh (and Scotland, and doubtless the UK) nowadays.
Tonight, we get some throwback to the shambling days with some “tambourine difficulties” (although there fact that they have a tambourine at all is a separate issue). I’ve not seen them live in over a year, but seem to have a new lineup – again – mind you, every time I see them there’s a new lineup, so “shambling” is probably a given… they’re down to just the one drummer, with one of the previous stickspersons now running the show with The Douglas Firs).
And a new – I think – lass on percuission, vocals, and sundry instruments. In a sense she’s somehow the best thing about the lineup – supplying nice vocals and a bit of trumpet – but also… I’d hesitate to say the worst, but she’s kind of symbolic of the new direction, the ragged guitars and sprawling drums of old replaced by folksy harmonies and twee instrumentation.
My attention must have wandered to the fact that multi-talented lass who has one of those xylophones in a case – presumably for ease of theft from primary school – that in a certain light look like a laptop. Then I start to wonder if it could be a laptop and she was triggering a sample called “percussive thing that looks a bit like a cheese grater.”
There’s newies from the album Endless Knocking (I presume) and oldies including ‘So Much Water’, with a glossier sheen than it once had. Although they still have their dreadlocked percusisonist and still, at times, sound like Pavement. Note that I’m not complaining about this aspect of the show.
The closing tune has a nice choral finish but kind of peters out in unfocused way. ‘Half The Man You Were’ is also an oldie (though not as old as Odeon Beat Club’s ‘Being Realistic’!) while a newie titled ‘Paris’ is all Xmassy – if we were celebrating Christmas in Stockton, CA. In 1990. ‘So Much Water’ is another new song, but but sounds gratifyingly old – so there could be hope for them yet.
Ryan Vail is a bloke, I think – ok, the person onstage clearly is, but they are a boy-girl duo. A duo with a considerable amount of hardware onstage. They could actually have an iPod there, that and a copy of FIFA. Yes, it’s all a bit disaffecting, despite Ryan singing on several tracks (in between triggering whatever needs triggered) and his lovely assistant contributing flute. They also have a mass of devices connected by a mass of black wires that looks like Bertie Bassett’s had a prolapse. Their tale of an 8 hour drive gets no sympathy from the Edinburgh audience though they garner reasonable applause. Their sound? It sounds, pretty consistently, like backwards samples – I could hear nothing of the New Order influences mentioned in their biog. The distant, muttered vocal doesn’t help though generally their electronica meets pop sound suggests we could soon be swamped by a wave of Happy Particles-type bands.
Who take the stage to a fair response. Of course, with their SAY exposure – one couple have apparently traveled from Finland for tonight’s gig – there’s not much we can say about the music or the lineup, though I note that there’s 6 of them including double nominee Graeme ‘Remember Remember’ Ronald. He remains to the rear of the stage, operating keys or computer, but crucially is on bass as well, which often sets the tune and the rhythm.
And that component of their live sound – reproducing their recorded work onstage is a hard task, but they cope admirably. They remind me of so much, the lazy writer’s dream – the pure soaring vocals are like Flaming Lips, but actually in tune. There’s a sax – danger! – but it’s subdued and may well be running through some sort of advanced anti-cheese filter, the band have brought along plenty of black boxes and pedals after all. They’re a bit post rock, a bit slowcore, a bit Findo Gask… their sound is stark and glacial, most of the time, punctuated by swells of noise and occasionally brutally noisy. It’s been nice to catch up with them before their stellar trajectory takes them out of the reach of wee venues like this one. I guess that if they can avoid the traps that their first support have fallen in then who knows how far they can go?