David Emery OnlineBig Pink ++
26 April 2009
It’s funny how gigs seem to come – like the proverbial fleet of buses – in waves; you can go weeks without one and then have a week packed with them. This week was one of those weeks, with the lovely St Vincent playing the Hoxton Bar and Kitchen on Tuesday and then a whopping four possible gigs to go to on Thursday: Jeffrey Lewis playing the Scala, Camera Obscura playing Shepherds Bush Empire, British Sea Power playing the BFI and The Big Pink & The XX playing the ICA.
I ended up going for the latter and I’m very glad I did – it was probably my favourite gig of the year so far. For a start, the other two support acts – A Grave With No Name and Loverman – were surprisingly good, both being worth of checking out further (Loverman particularly – the hints of things like 80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster and Nirvana being right up my street).
The XX came in stark contrast to the riotous noise that came before but were no less diminished for it; you get the sense that every note they play has thought and weight behind it and whilst it’s quite sparse that makes it all the more powerful. The girl/boy interplay between the two main vocalists works exceptionally well, and the live beats cap it all off very nicely. Definitely one to watch.
The Big Pink were something else, though. I know I’ve already gone about both their two previous singles (Velvet is my song of the year so far, I think) and live it’s so incredibly powerful – while the guitar is so in your face and raw there are genuinely great songs underneath. If they can successfully translate the songs they’re playing live into a record it’s certainly going to be a contender for album of the year. They could do with getting rid of the superfluous model backing singer though – they’re a touch in danger of becoming a bit cliché there.
