Are Fleetwood Mac the most cited influence on new bands at
the moment? It certainly seems that way,
but if it results in music like this then who cares?
Support act The Night kicked the evening off to an ethereal
start, with beautiful female vocals floating atop bluesy guitar lines. The six-piece band may have few gigs under
their belts and seemed a little nervous, but the music was evocative and
tightly performed. Though perhaps a
question of acoustics, the harp needed to be louder in the mix – it’s a
distinct quality of The Night that would help them to carve an identity away
from Fleetwood Mac. In the final song
the band really hit their stride, showing plenty of potential.
LA five-piece Milo Greene hit the ground running with their
hour long set, consisting of songs from their recently released self-titledalbum, as well as covers of Sufjan Stevens and Wilco. Yet what most impressed were the differences
to the record. Where the album merges
the vocals together into a harmonious whole, the live set revealed four
individual voices (the drummer is the only non-singing member of the
band). Lines, choruses and even whole
songs were volleyed between band members, imbuing each song with its own feel
from rasping rock to blues. Marlana
Sheetz, the only female, is vocally reminiscent of a young Karen Carpenter –
particularly singing the yearning melodies of Perfectly Aligned.
And that’s not all.
The four vocalists are also multi-instrumentalists, deftly switching
between various guitars, keys and handheld percussion. Watching the band juggling instruments
mid-song as well as seamlessly segueing through the setlist was as impressive to
watch as to listen. Each song was richly
textured, layering together multiple instruments along with a backing
track. At times the sound was too big
for the small confines of St. Pancras Old Church, but the gradual crescendos from
gentle guitars to grand cacophony were well nuanced in each instance. The lyrics may be melancholic, but played
live the music was dynamic and urgent, without losing any of its haunting
brilliance.
The influence of Fleetwood Mac is strong on both bands,
though with Milo Greene it has seeped into their veins to bring 70s folk-rock
into the twenty-first century. The
evocative, reverbed guitars and harsher edge of their live performance brought a
new dimension to their softly lilting album.
This is a band that deserve to be seen as much as heard.
4/5
The Night