Live Review
Younghusband + Royal Blood + Telegram
Barfly, London
November 11 2013
Words & photos: Linn Branson
It has become increasingly common to find that it is not always the headliner that steals the night, but an artist further down the bill. So it was that this sold-out event, hosted by XFM's X-Posure, saw Brighton duo Royal Blood take the crown on what was their London debut. As they explode onto the stage in a wash of blue light, the room suddenly fills to every corner as punters leave their beers and merge as close to the front as possible, where an already solid wall has built up. There may just be the two of Royal Blood - Mike Kerr on vocals and bass, and Ben Thatcher on drums - plus a raft of pedals and amps, but what they lack in member numbers they more than make up for in decibels. And once they start, there's no let up - nor would anyone want it so. From the blues-infused opener 'Hole', through single B-side 'Come On Over' and the three-minute primordial 'Figure It Out', Kerr fires off riffs like bullets from a gun in rapid succession (bar a brief moment when a front row punter asked him to turn his guitar up...even he looked slightly taken aback at that; any louder and ears would have been bleeding), whilst his drum partner battered his kit like a boxer filled with pent-up aggression. As they draw to a close on current single 'Out Of The Black', there's a sense that these are destined to join indie 'royalty' in the top ranks over the next 12 months.
Telegram, who start the show, have seen themselves, in the space of just six months, go from east London unknowns, to a band that has debuted with a high velocity single, 'Follow', an almost endless non-stop touring schedule, and the approbation of many. The buzz band of the moment set the pace with their part motorik, part glam stomp, part psych style, and play like the undoubted future headliners they will shortly become, as guitars wail and frontman Matt Saunders employs his Welsh brogue to engage with lilting inflections on words. 'Eons ’, with its Supergrass likeness and on which guitarist Matt Wood remains intently bent over his instrument almost throughout as he inveigles one riff after another from it. Debut ‘Follow’ is the highlight of the set, with its striking opening chords and all three on guitar (Wood, Saunders, bassist Oli Paget-Moon ) working in fast-paced tandem, spewing out huge riffs like there is no tomorrow. When 'Folly' closes with its deadly arrangement of prog-like strikes, it is vain wish fulfillment that they might replicate the reverberating guitar elongated ending which they have been seen and heard to do at least once, extending to a further four or five minutes. Tonight it is not to be, but regardless, Telegram haved proved their worth.
There are two things about Younghusband that, perhaps inconsequential in the main, are still rather distracting: vocalist Euan Hinshelwood bearing more than a passing resemblance to Charlie Boyer (even down to wearing an identical fawn jacket tonight), and bassist Joe Chilton's hypnotic two paces forward-two paces back-two paces forward routine that is like watching a metronome - or a member of The Shadows, circa early 60s. But that aside, as they open on the now standard 'Comets Crossing' and the lavish psych sprawl of swirling guitars that is 'Left Of The Rocks', the dream-laden mood is set to continue largely through the rest of the six songs, most evidently on 'Constantly In Love' and 'Sunstroke'. 'Silver Sisters', with circling guitars and resonant vocal, together with the recently released debut album title track 'Dromes' both channel the finer elements of shoegaze. Younghusband have a natural flow and ease to their sound that makes it all sound so effortless; songs to become submerged in. Not drowning, just drifting on a languid sea of tranquility.
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