Monday 11 February 2013

Pine For Cedars–Debut EP

Pine For Cedars are a relatively new York band, with just a handful of gigs under their belts so far (including two on the same day, in Leeds and York, back in November), yet they have already reached the final of one Battle of the Bands competition (and may have even won it if you are reading this at least a week after I wrote it…) and put together an impressive EP.

First off, a quick word about the packaging, which has a kind of retro, distressed feel. The CD, designed like a mini vinyl LP, comes in a sealed cardboard sleeve. All very neat, until you unseal it by pulling the opening tape, which then leaves it looking a little tatty. The front design is simple yet effective but something about the black ink feels wrong. It has the sort of slick feel of old newsprint and every time I pick the sleeve up I find myself glancing at my fingers, expecting to see them coated in black. Nothing so far, though. The strange thing is that, despite the obvious thought that has gone into the design (I’ve seen other CDs that look like vinyl, but few that look this shiny) there is no sign of a track listing or even anything on the disk itself that refers to the band name. I guess that might be in order to keep costs down and, as the band seem to be giving the EP away at gigs, I’m not going to complain.

PineForCedars

The music itself almost defies genre. Love By Numbers opens with a choppy Math-rock sound reminiscent of past-favourites Lost From Atlas, changes to an almost hypnotic guitar line as the vocals start and then manages to incorporate so many time changes that it belies its less than three minute running time. Platform utilises layered vocals over deceptively simple guitars playing off each other with the bass occasionally popping up in their midst. Taking Over is, perhaps, the most user-friendly track and most likely to appeal to the general music fan. Being slightly more generic, with it’s near-pop vocals, it still retains a large amount of inventiveness, not least the lovely tinny guitar interlude with continues on into the latter section of the track. The EP ends with Life, a wonderfully chilled-out track which returns to the hypnotic sound in evidence at the beginning of the disk and reminding me a lot of Angelo Badalamenti’s music for the Twin Peaks TV series. At times during this track, there is an effect on the vocals that make them sound as though they are coming from a distance, or maybe from inside a tunnel, but that only adds to the charm, rather than being a distraction. Throughout the EP drums and bass provide a solid backing for the tracks without being intrusive while just occasionally coming to the fore enough to be noticed in their own right.

For anybody whose appetite has been whetted, the EP be heard on SoundCloud.

This is a nice debut with good production values – there is no clue as to whether the EP has been recorded in a professional studio or with a home set-up – and while the music is enjoyable enough that I will definitely be investing in any future full-length release, I can’t help but think that Pine For Cedars are a band that need to be seen live to get the full effect.

Track Listing:

1. Love By Numbers

2.Platform

3. Taking Over

4. Life

Musicians:

Rob Lettice – Vocals, guitar

Mike Fong – Guitar

Shane Hunter – Bass

Jamie Bradley – Drums

Sunday 10 February 2013

Kodaline–Fibbers, 07/02/13

A bit of a strange one tonight. Andy had been recommended Kodaline by Fibbers’ promoter, Tim, but neither of us had heard of them before that. Nevertheless, Andy, on the basis of the band’s write-up on the Fibbers website, decided that they appealed and convinced me to go along (as usual, it didn’t take too much to persuade me.) Just before I set off, I watched the video for All I Want on YouTube – a video that had already had well over one million views. Not only that, but a pretty good video for a very good song.

As is usual these days, Andy and I met up for a drink before the gig. Usually on a Thursday, with Andy travelling down from work in Edinburgh, it’s a bit of a rushed affair but this time a chance encounter with Tim as I walked to the pub meant that I knew that the gig wasn’t due to start until eight thirty. So, we had time for more than the usual hasty pint.

When we finally arrived at Fibbers it was a bit of a shock to find that, not only was it already as full as I’ve ever seen the place, but that the usually curtained-off side section had been opened up. (I know that it’s not the first time this section has been opened, but it is the firs time I had seen it so.)

Support tonight came from Luke Sital-Singh, playing in York for the first time. Sadly, we were so far back in the audience that we couldn’t hear much of what was being said between songs. Luke alternated between acoustic and electric guitar and his playing was subtle and understated, while his vocals were both intense and emotive. Although I can’t honestly say that there was anything at all wrong with Luke’s performance, I get the impression that I would have enjoyed it much more if I had been closer to the stage (it goes without saying, away from the chatterers…)

After a quick trip out to get another drink, we returned for Kodaline to find that, if anything, the venue was even fuller – obviously somebody had heard of the band, even if I hadn’t. Despite the crowd, we managed to weave our way closer to the front, although nowhere near as close as we could get on a normal weekday evening. Kodaline, originally called 21 Demands (and, under that name, owners of the first independently-released single to reach number one in the Irish chart) hail from Dublin, comprise of Stephen Garrigan (vocals, keys), Mark Prendergast (guitar, keys), Vinny May Jr. (drums) and Jason Boland (bass) in and are about to release their debut album, In A Perfect World. On stage, the first thing we noticed was that the backing vocals, from Prendergast, May and Boland, came across stronger than the mellow lead vocals of Garrigan and that, initially, the drums and bass were overpowering the guitar. It was during the first song that Garrigan paused to introduce the band (as Kodaline, not the individual members) and it was then that we heard the first lilt of his Irish accent. I can’t help but think that it, and the Dublin base, are what have brought on the comparisons to U2 as I, for one, couldn’t hear too much of it in the music.

Garrigan’s vocals sounded stronger during the second song, at the end of which one audience member standing in front of me was heard to declare the band as “Coldplay wannabes”. The addition of keyboards, first from Prendergast and, later from Garrigan, certainly didn’t detract from that comparison, although I did politely take issue with the guy in question, explaining that Coldplay were one of my favourite bands while, at the same time, not trying to convince him to change his opinion – at the end of the day, we were both there to experience and, hopefully, appreciate live music. Further proof that Kodaline are more popular than I expected came with High Hopes, a song which most of the audience seemed to know and there was a light-hearted moment during the next track when Neil-the-roadie, after kitting Garrigan out with a mandolin, forgot that he also needed a harmonica, for a track that sounded slightly more folky that the alt-rock of the rest of the set. Unfortunately, as is the way of these things, background noise had increased exponentially with the crowd size and, even being closer to the front, it was getting harder to hear what was going on on stage. Something that may have been called The Answer was followed by the announcement, after just forty five minutes, that the next song would be the last. Inevitably, this song turned out to be All I Want, the excellent song which was accompanied by the tear-jerking YouTube video from my earlier viewing. Needless to say the crowd lapped it up.

And that was it, an unusually short set and no sign of an encore. Tonight was the first night of a small UK tour after two nights in the US, just a week ago and three nights in Europe just before that. There is a longer tour planned for March and April and I wonder whether the few dates in February are being used as a warm-up for the main event. In a way I feel a little short-changed by the minimal set (even a second support act might have made a difference) but, at the same time, I’m glad I went along. With the album just around the corner (I will be ordering it) there’s a feeling that Kodaline could be quite big in the near future.

Friday 8 February 2013

Toby Jepson–Fibbers, 27/01/13

I don’t think I’ve ever heard an act introduce themselves in song before. With the lyric “Oh, my name is Zak and I’m here to sing a song for you” Zak Ford succinctly and light-heartedly, if slightly inaccurately in numerical terms, summed up his role as tonight’s support act. A relative newcomer to York’s acoustic scene, he is tonight joined by Jen on cello and backing vocals, adding a pleasing twist to an increasingly crowded genre. Despite a tendency to slide along the stage the cello, at times plucked, at others played with the bow, added depth to the music, occasionally verging on adding a bass line and during one song almost sounding as though it was singing backing vocals as well. Jen’s own backing vocals were used in unusual, but not unpleasant way. Zak’s vocals are wide-ranging and emotive, as are his songs which are a mix of folk, Americana and acoustic rock. After the fast-paced opener and Heartbreakers, he slowed things down with Hold The Line and My Love before speeding things up again with When I Was Young. Feel was preceded with an extract from Attack Attack, one of the songs written for his other project, the heavy rock band River City Ransom while the set ended with an indication of one of his influences, a cover of Ryan Adams’ Two, a full-on duet and the only song not to feature the cello. A nice opening to tonight’s proceedings.

With the unusually bare stage stripped even further, leaving just a microphone stand and a chair (actually acting as a table) Toby Jepson arrived. There have been three previous York appearances scheduled over the past couple of years and I’ve not managed to catch any of them. To be fair, at least one was cancelled (another clashed with my birthday and the third with an already-planned night out for Debbie, although I think that one was eventually postponed as well). Given the previous day’s snow, tonight’s appearance was quite lucky to go ahead. “I looked out of the window and thought I’d have to put another message on Facebook,” he quipped as he thanked us for turning out. I had seen Toby a couple of times before when he fronted Gun but knew nothing of his solo output (two albums and four EPs) and, it turns out, very little of his work with Little Angels. Indeed, it wasn’t until the last song of the set – Too Much Too Young - that anything sounded even vaguely familiar to either me or Andy.

Despite his hard-rock roots, Toby’s solo gigs are acoustic. The immediate comparison that came to mind was a combination of the performance of Bryan Adams (from the mainstream) and the audience intimacy of Nick Harper (from slightly left-field). The twenty song set comprised of a mix of songs from his solo career and Little Angels, covering almost the entire history of both. Few songs were introduced, but the audience was full of dedicated fans who seemed to know each one and were quite prepared to join in with the sing-along sections. Thankfully, the vocals were so clear that I managed to identify all but two songs from lyrics I noted down. One of those two, a ballad, something about wrapping “her up in passionate arms” and introduced as “see if you remember this one” (I didn’t) was my favourite of the set, but I can’t work out what it is. There were occasional insights – My Aim Is True was being performed live for the first time, Forbidden Fruit is his favourite song, there are plans to tour with a set of some of the more obscure Little Angels songs – and flashes of humour – roadie Nigel being almost as popular with the audience as Toby himself, mention of an upcoming slot for the re-formed Little Angels with Bon Jovi at the Isle Of Wight festival leading to him poking fun at Jon Bon Jovi’s recent appearance on the BBC. As is probably obvious, most of the set was acoustic re-workings of the original rock versions, but Unfortunate Man, an anti-Death Row song written after seeing a documentary about a prisoner who was exonerated after being put to death, had more of a country feel to it. Perhaps most surprising was Just No Way To Stop Loving You. Not the song itself, which was written just after Little Angels originally split up, but the fact that it will be appearing on a forthcoming album from former Superbike champion James Toseland, which Toby is producing. A consummate performer with a great voice. Well worth seeing live and, hopefully, I will get the opportunity again.