Live Circuit gig, Hitchin Football Club, 6th August 04

On a quiet night of loud rock at the local Football Club, two bands struggle to move a small crowd past small applause, traditional musical leanings met with habitually polite clapping: something of one singer’s strained voice appeals to me, reaching above his range and settling for a convincing yelp, which the inclusion of faithful covers (Pearl Jam, Incubus) didn’t help; but one band striving for something still further had opened the evening and managed the mixing desk (and played refreshing dub-reggae CDs on it, too!) and gone beyond expectations at this ‘Cream of the Scene’ night (which coincided with the Big Brother final, fact fans).

Four-piece Left Engine turn in a set of alternative rock that is actually different to most of the modern conglomerated shit out there. Somebody once called this style of music “angular” and though like so many journalists’ descriptions the word doesn’t say much in itself, the songs are certainly not smooth, each player playing off against each other and parts of the songs coming into their own… there’s two singers on stage but both know when to keep their mouths shut, when to let slow instrumental dynamics build loosely in a textured sound. Most representative is one slow-burner that sees the guitarist gurn the vocals, “You never really got in me – you just rattled the perimeter fence.” Pained but not angry, emotive constructive describes this set. I think they might like that band Fugazi. “I’m not free… but I’m cheap!” is the singalong chorus of a more humorous and rock’n’roll-styled song (particularly in its volatile solo), which they might do well to save as an explosive set-closer rather than penultimate throwaway – one to ignite an audience the band are sure to increase.

(also, there’s a Left Engine song that sounds a lot like Talking Heads but with a pair of big shorts instead of a big suit, and some that are rather more Mars Volta, and that last song I mentioned was a cover, and do they have a website? I don’t know)

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