Water Rats, 26th January 2007 (Review/Article 1)
(Supported by Great Lakes & I Was A King)
Listening to The Radio Dept. reminds me of Malmo on steely November days, and also of, er, sitting on a Greek beach toying with pebbles listening to ‘Lesser Matters’. Which is handy in a metaphorical kind of way ‘cos that’s what the band sound like – a comfortable gloom with bursts of sunshine. The music summons grey skies, but is meltingly warm and distantly sparkling. Tonight’s sold out crowd is pushed in close to the stage and I’m comfortably squeezed in a corner peering over the top of a speaker where I can feel the noize manifesting as warm waves of sound twisting from the speaker mesh.
The Radio Dept are three mismatched blokes creating powerful, aching music that is the sound of resigned sighs, emotions being muffled and catching the gleam of reality through a haze of medication. Then there are the lyrics, little bubbles of misery floating on the up-draught of oceanic sound. The drifting, gossamer strum of ‘Bus’ plaintively asks ‘What are you gonna do if nothing happens?’ ‘Ewan’ with its burst of righteous keyboards and low-slung Hooky string twanging sounds positively upbeat, almost anthemic, but listen to the words, ‘You’ve spent some time in the morning sun. But what goes up must come down. And you can feel the sunshine fading’
A drum-machine provides a rigid, ticking beat, stern and inflexible, over which synth and guitar fold themselves in luxuriant layers. There is no bass, just twin guitars woven tight beneath the keyboard sounds. Singer Johan holds back on guitar, so when he does play it’s jarring, startling. Live, the songs soar eerily, swooning around the room and roaring in your ears with a woozy, suffocating euphoria. ‘Pet Grief’ begins with a dippy bontempi beat and the screech of a train braking, before rolling out an expanse of blissed autumnal frolicking that loudly builds and builds until it sounds painfully ecstatic.
‘This Past Week’ has a particularly stentorian rave beat at odds with the fey indieness of the vocals. I look back to inspect the crowd – they’re standing apparently soaking it all up po-faced in the blast of juddery mechanised rhythms. This is dance music that’s been specially castrated for indie folks who prefer to confine movement to their brain cells. Truncated beats and curtailed rhythms and the caress of a mournful tune.
Review courtesy of the Kitten painting blog.
Water Rats, 26th January 2007 (Review/Article 2)
The gig should have taken place in November so it’s nearly three months late but well worth the wait. Radio Dept are often called “shoegazing” and mentioned in the same breath as My Bloody Valentine but it would be equally fair to liken them to electronic pop and call them a shyer Pet Shop Boys or New Order. They make songs with two hearts, one electronic, one human, although the overwhelming feeling is of being wrapped in diaphanous sheets of reassuring melancholy. Their dreamy soundscapes are perfect soundtrack material, as Sofia Coppola demonstrated with her film ‘Marie Antoinette’; one of her choices, ‘I Don’t Like It Like This’, is one of tonight’s highlights, along with ‘Ewan’. Another standout is the closer ‘Why Won’t You Talk About It’ that is atypically full of Jesus and Mary Chain feedback goodness. Their bashful presence and lack of ‘strut’ means that it’s not very rock’n’roll – but we still like it a lot.
Review courtesy of Ged M.