The Captain’s Rest is a cellar – the sound bounces off the walls, the heat cannot rise and there is a spot, about five feet in front of the stage where the sound quality is perfect: anywhere else, it is best to assume that the overwhelming bass echo or mismatched piano are not supposed to be part of the band’s sound. The Most Serene Republic manage to overcome this, partially through their front man’s enthusiasm, but also due to their distinctive mixing of Sonic Youth style attack and trombone melodies.
The windswept romanticism of the album isn’t really replicated on-stage: the multi-instrumentation and depth is replaced by a battle between achingly sweet jazz piano, pounding drums and three guitars (with the occasional blast of trombone). However, this energy carries the set, and the songs are allowed to emerge from the noise as tender and charming. TMSR are celf-consciously eclectic, but never let their influences overwhelm. At times like a modern relaxed Tokyo Police Club, they pilfer from rock and pop, jazz and, in the vocals, wistful folk, turning in a set that is long but focussed.
Despite being a mite fussier than on record- the massed guitars and intricate piano do trip over each other and the male-female duets are lost in the rush, TMSR are slowly searching for an escape from mundane indie-rock, cutting and pasting whatever elements they can fit.
- Bellowhead - 1 December 2008
- The Vines - 17 June 2008
- Toyko Police Club - 17 June 2008