Why?
It’s freshers’ season, and oodles of fresh loan money is burning holes in the frivolous pockets of thousands of students across the country. In other news, the music industry is fucked, and (as indicated by the recent trend of album tours) the top dogs are hell-bent on making as much money as possible from gigs, because album sales just aint cutting the yellow condiment any more. Put these two things together and what do you get? Lots of good gigs in student unions in October. I’d heard the Friendly Fires on the radio- Jump in the Pool got quite a lot of airplay- and thought it sounded quite good. My good buddy Dan bought tickets, and off we trotted to Kings College Student Union.
The Venue
Thank the lord I’m not a student any more. First up, Kings College is in Temple, which, other than the eponymous temple, is a thoroughly uninteresting part of London. This is the problem with London universities, I guess- they are a disparate affair; plonked seemingly at random, with no real campus, no real sense of a student community, no real buzz. The KCL union is a standard identikit job, with horrible purple panels and drink promo posters and suchlike. To be fair, the top floor club is a good, medium size, and has windows with views over the city, which is nice, but otherwise is a bit too geometric, and sans atmosphere. Easily the best thing about it is the ability to order two pints of snakebite without getting punched. But then I realised that, when you are 24, snakebite tastes abominable.
What they look like
The band were just a band. Top Man chic and so forth. But the lead singer, Ed Macfarlane, was an interesting fish. He is a short chap with a curly bob. And he dances like a latino floosy. He is bestowed with superb snake hips, that gyrated with Mick Jagger ferocity. The kind of hips that ask confusing questions about one’s heterosexuality. And he’s full of energy too, buckling his body into spasms in between vocals, jumping into the crowd. Excellent front man.
What they sound like
There’s a whole lot of zeitgeisty things going on here. A bit of Spandau Ballet melodrama with the vocals tapping into the rocketing acceptability of 80s pop...a bit of cheesy syth chords suggesting early 90s anthemic rave music... punchy synth for a bit of late Noughties electro... a bit of wall-of-sound guitars (see Jesus and Mary Chain/Glasvegas)...a bit of cowbell and samba beat bringing in a bit of the disco Club Tropicana thing...and a bit of Prince-esque funk. How very post-modern. Ed Macfarlane sounds a bit like Brandon Flowers from the Killers.
Conclusion
It doesn’t quite work, methinks. Rhythmically they are excellent, and all of their songs are easy to dance to, but the songwriting just isn’t really there. Jump in the Pool is an exception. On Board has funk, and is a good gimmick of a track, but anyone can do a gimmick track. Everyone seems to think Paris is excellent, but if you deconstruct it, other than the reptitive synths, it really isn’t that interesting, despite having a nice sound to it. And although the songs sound nice and make you want to dance, there isn’t really any musical depth. However, I reckon might be a third-album band- i.e. a band that could do great things after a while, but not now. And the front man is a right little goer. But right now, Friendly Fires are a very strange thing.... a band that sound very good, without actually being very good.
pics: Abby Cattermole, colinmeeks, prusakolep
tags: friendly fires kings college jump in the pool ed macfarlane fresher's week mick jagger
It’s freshers’ season, and oodles of fresh loan money is burning holes in the frivolous pockets of thousands of students across the country. In other news, the music industry is fucked, and (as indicated by the recent trend of album tours) the top dogs are hell-bent on making as much money as possible from gigs, because album sales just aint cutting the yellow condiment any more. Put these two things together and what do you get? Lots of good gigs in student unions in October. I’d heard the Friendly Fires on the radio- Jump in the Pool got quite a lot of airplay- and thought it sounded quite good. My good buddy Dan bought tickets, and off we trotted to Kings College Student Union.
The VenueThank the lord I’m not a student any more. First up, Kings College is in Temple, which, other than the eponymous temple, is a thoroughly uninteresting part of London. This is the problem with London universities, I guess- they are a disparate affair; plonked seemingly at random, with no real campus, no real sense of a student community, no real buzz. The KCL union is a standard identikit job, with horrible purple panels and drink promo posters and suchlike. To be fair, the top floor club is a good, medium size, and has windows with views over the city, which is nice, but otherwise is a bit too geometric, and sans atmosphere. Easily the best thing about it is the ability to order two pints of snakebite without getting punched. But then I realised that, when you are 24, snakebite tastes abominable.
What they look likeThe band were just a band. Top Man chic and so forth. But the lead singer, Ed Macfarlane, was an interesting fish. He is a short chap with a curly bob. And he dances like a latino floosy. He is bestowed with superb snake hips, that gyrated with Mick Jagger ferocity. The kind of hips that ask confusing questions about one’s heterosexuality. And he’s full of energy too, buckling his body into spasms in between vocals, jumping into the crowd. Excellent front man.
What they sound likeThere’s a whole lot of zeitgeisty things going on here. A bit of Spandau Ballet melodrama with the vocals tapping into the rocketing acceptability of 80s pop...a bit of cheesy syth chords suggesting early 90s anthemic rave music... punchy synth for a bit of late Noughties electro... a bit of wall-of-sound guitars (see Jesus and Mary Chain/Glasvegas)...a bit of cowbell and samba beat bringing in a bit of the disco Club Tropicana thing...and a bit of Prince-esque funk. How very post-modern. Ed Macfarlane sounds a bit like Brandon Flowers from the Killers.
Conclusion
It doesn’t quite work, methinks. Rhythmically they are excellent, and all of their songs are easy to dance to, but the songwriting just isn’t really there. Jump in the Pool is an exception. On Board has funk, and is a good gimmick of a track, but anyone can do a gimmick track. Everyone seems to think Paris is excellent, but if you deconstruct it, other than the reptitive synths, it really isn’t that interesting, despite having a nice sound to it. And although the songs sound nice and make you want to dance, there isn’t really any musical depth. However, I reckon might be a third-album band- i.e. a band that could do great things after a while, but not now. And the front man is a right little goer. But right now, Friendly Fires are a very strange thing.... a band that sound very good, without actually being very good.
pics: Abby Cattermole, colinmeeks, prusakolep
tags: friendly fires kings college jump in the pool ed macfarlane fresher's week mick jagger
2 comments:
Did you get a ticket to see M83?
That's up next week. Then there is Abe Vigoda and Lovvers at the Old Blue Last in Dec.
Notice the permanent link I'm giving you. Aren't I great?
Testing open ID.. Wooo.
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