Issue 3 / August 2010

Reviews
Bido Lito! August 2010 43
into an audience pleasing rendition of
Radiohead’s High and Dry.
The Academy isn’t especially well
suited for a gig such as this, as when
either of the performers sit down the
majority of the audience start standing
on their toes, craning their necks to
see where they’ve gone. That doesn’t
appear to affect the mood of the crowd
however, as the duo leave the stage
to rapturous applause after ninety
minutes of dazzling musicianship.
Richard Lewis
DIAMOND RINGS
Picture Book – Organ Freeman
Mello Mello
Calling your band ORGAN FREEMAN
does denote a certain sense of fun
and perhaps a light-hearted outlook
on the world of music. Unless of
course this is pure coincidence and
these boys haven’t even heard of Andy
Dufresne and his pal ‘Red’, never mind
watched a mid-nineties crime-thriller
starring Brad Pitt. But no, it seems the
former is more accurate as the band
spend the ten minutes immediately
preceding the show blowing up loads
of those balloons with lights inside
them, before dispersing them into
the crowd. The all-male group then
marched on, sans-instruments, to
form an inward-facing triangle in front
of the stage. An honourable mention
should also go at this stage to the fact
that they were kitted-out in 80s Gary
Lineker/Alan Partridge shorts, white
sports socks and what can only be
described as crop-tops. So as far as
fun goes, they were setting the bar
pretty high and what’s remarkable
is that this energy and exuberance
actually carried over into the songs.
And what’s even more remarkable is
that nobody got hurt. A novelty act
they may be but what are live music
shows all about if not to entertain?
Entertain they certainly did.
Entering the stage next were
PICTURE BOOK, a three-piece of
unusual geographical origin, hailing
from Liverpool, New York and in the
case of lead singer Greta Svabo Bech,
The Faroe Islands. Seeming a touch
nervous to begin with, the band soon
found themselves and moved through
the gears of their homemade electropop
repertoire. Like Organ Freeman
before them, they were also about the
visuals and almost managed to be as
busy to look at. Their brand of synth
groove is fairly sedate in essence
however, certainly containing more
of the ‘morning after’ than the ‘night
before’. The likes of Love Lane and All
The Way have a lot to offer by way of
chill-out, sunshine pop and through
some strong basslines combined with
Bech’s soothing vocals, they have
found themselves a musical identity.
Where they do come unstuck though
is when it comes to a ‘plan B’. There
is a feeling of the songs bleeding
into each other, particularly with the
penultimate and final songs Sunshine
and Explosions, and this does leave
the performance feeling a little flat.
Talented musicians they undoubtedly
are though and it may simply be that
they are in need of direction, torn as
they seem at the moment between
their individual, varied musical loves.
Finally, and with much secret
special guest-bated breath, it was the
turn of Toronto’s DIAMOND RINGS
to take to the stage. This is one man
with a lot of energy and some very
tight clothes. Describing his own
music as ‘melodramatic popular
song’, you can add ‘self-aware’ to
this list of descriptors. With a musical
education sitting slap bang in the
1980s, Diamond Rings offers bouncy
and often joyous-sounding pop with a
slightly darker undertone. Interestingly
though, a couple of the tracks in the
middle of the set brought to mind
Room On Fire-era Strokes, both
vocally and in the lo-fi beats of John
O’s synthesiser. What Diamond Rings
does lack though is the strong vocals
to really carry the limited support
said synthesiser offers. On top of this
though, when there was melodrama it
came in the form of throwaway, often
flimsy choruses. If this sounds like it
was made in a bedroom at three in
the morning, that’s probably because
it was. John O has ambition, charisma
and some degree of talent, but he is
sadly lacking in musical scope.
Pete Robinson
JESSE MALIN
O2 Academy 2
JESSE MALIN has been playing
in Liverpool for years. But he’s still
confused.
His tour manager told him he’s
playing in the Academy ... “Great,”
he says to himself. “We’ve done
that before, that’s the building Joe
(Strummer) played his last gig in.” Only
he arrives at the venue and doesn’t
recognise it. Cue the confusion.
We arrive and inform him that
Stanley Theatre is the building he
remembers and this is a different
venue. He looks crestfallen. And it was
nearly that sort of night ...
Nearly. With less than 100 people
downstairs at the O2 and David
Gray boring couples over 30 to tears
upstairs (and complaining about the
noise coming from below), this could
have been just another maudlin
Monday. That it wasn’t says everything
about Malin and his total belief in the
redemptive qualities of rock ‘n’ roll. He
tells us this - mid-song, from atop the
PA stack, as high as the ceiling - during
the powerful Solitaire.
Shaggy-dog,
Springsteen-esque
storytelling go hand-in-hand at Malin
concerts and he always captures
the crowd off-guard. Tonight was no
different. True, the biggest cheers came
for the best songs from his debut solo
album, The Fine Art of Self Destruction,
but the New Yorker is no nostalgia act.
Far from it. And when the songwriting
is this good, the singing this original
and the performances still vital, who’s
looking back?
Jesse Malin (Jennifer Pellegrini)
Joe Strummer would have been proud.
Alan O’Hare
www.bidolito.co.uk