Bland Icelandic Coldplay, is how my friend descibes them as I ask him if he wants a ticket. And that’s without even listening to Leaves. Still, it doesn’t put him off coming to the gig. In the end, four of us headed off to the Joiners for a gig that none of us are hugely enthusiastic about. The big worry is that Leaves will indeed turn out to be bland. Of the three of us who have listened to their second album, The Angela Test, none of us can particularly remember any standout tracks, although I make a case for The Spell, even though I secretly wish it didn’t sound quite so much like something from the “Rush of Blood…” sessions.
But before Leaves, we had two unknown support acts to get excited about.
The aviators
First up are The Aviators, who mark the bounds of their imagination by opening their set with a song that seems to be called… Aviators. Actually, it’s a pretty good song, and possibly their best on the night, and gives me a sort of pre brit-pop shoegazing feeling. But after that they kind of lose their way a bit. Don’t get me wrong, it’s all very tight, the vocals, the slidey guitar bits, it’s all good, but there’s just nothing there that you feel marks them out from any unknown number of unknown bands playing similar venues this evening, with the possible exception of Love of the Last Time. Everything else is sort of what you’d expect to hear from four guys with 2 guitars, a bass, and some drums. And the three-part male harmonies are giving me too many Hal flashbacks. Worryingly, everyone in the Joiners seems to be a mate of theirs, and I’m left wondering who’ll stick around for later…
The Fallout Trust
Are exactly the kind of non-bland support band you want to be seeing in a place like this, and are pretty much not what you’d expect to find on the same bill as Leaves. They’re also very much not like The Aviators. For a start they’ve got a lead singer who likes to lie down on the stage every now and then, and what lyrics I can make out don’t seem to be making much sense to my brain - one song seems to be about washing soap, or washing with soap, not sure which. Probably doesn’t matter. And even though at times it sounds like all the current wave (Franz Ferdinand etc, you know who I mean) have had a hand here and there, it works fantastically. New single “Before The Light Goes” sounds beautiful, and everything else just runs anywhere and everywhere with a hint of madness (small ‘m’, by the way there). Check out their web site for some samples.
Leaves
Finally, the band that not many people have been not all that eagerly waiting for are on. And they’re detached in a quiet, not speaking to the audience kind of way, and in the way they could probably play the whole set fading in and out from one song to the next, such is the flow of the music. Cynics, feel free to point out that it could be because a lot of it sounds the same. Which is kind of true, but fortunately Leaves mix it up a bit playing Live. Mostly that means some extended instrumental noodling, but there’s a sense of feeling that’s lacking a bit on The Angela Test. Where Breathe was rough around the edges, The Angela Test is a pebble washed up on the beach, but tonight Leaves are firmly in Breathe territory (which is odd, really, because almost all of the set is not taken from Breathe…). They just need a few more killer songs like The Spell, and perhaps not so much of the downtempo heartfelt Things Looked Good But Didn’t Quite Work Out The Way I’d Hoped So I’m Going To Sing About It kind of songs. Thinking back, I can’t really fault them, although they are a bit, well, unexciting at times. Still miles better than a certain group beginning with C who I refuse to mention again, though.