The Window Right
Live at Atrium on Tuesday, 20th February 2007
Ambient, alternative music is on the cards tonight in the ridiculous upstairs room of the Atrium. Peasman, aka. Tom Evans from Vessels, kicks things off nicely with a set of laid back acoustic numbers. While a fair few of his songs are far from instant classics, adorned as they are with quirky structures and offbeat changes, one or two stand head and shoulders above the majority of unplugged music around at the moment. Rememnants in particular, a heartbreaking love letter set to a perfectly simplistic backing, would be enough to send a shiver down the audience's spine, if half of the people in attendance weren't talking too loudly to notice.
i concur are the latest band on Leeds' alternative scene and paint a more accessible picture than a lot of their counterparts. Shades of post rock fly about, but it's classic, atmospheric indie music at heart, pointing to REM and Gravenhurst among others. The vocals are okay but it's the accomplished dual-guitar twinkling that really gives i concur the edge. Unfortunately for them, the bass is lost in the mix and the high end rings round the room so much it hurts at times. i concur's songs have a tendency to build up without really going anywhere, but the killer hook or chord change is, I'm confident, something that will emerge in time.
Palo Alto have been around for a few years now, and it's something of a shame that they've not progressed further than Tuesday night local band events. Hypnotic rhythms are complemented by ethereal guitar work and vocalist Elaine's phenomenally haunting tones. It's big, ambient, epic and powerful, music in the same vain as the band they follow, but more accomplished, more experienced. Delicate, brooding sections build seamlessly into crushing walls of agonisingly beautiful noise. Certainly a band to keep an eye on.
The Window Right bring proceedings to a close tonight, and do so with style. This is more straightforward post-rock, but with a sense of urgency usually reserved for the likes of This Et Al and co on the local scene. What makes The Window Right special is the sense of modesty about their music. It's experimental, and it's a style of their own, but it never sounds fussy, forced or arrogant. Keeping a headline set interesting without vocals is never easy, either, but The Window Right do so with confidence, constantly building and developing their sound throughout.
In all, a successful evening for the Tiny Cat promotion team, but I still can't help but feel that a change of venue would do wonders.
