Live Review

The Broken Family Band – Koko, London

• 21st Oct 2007

Only bands with a big sound can fill a big venue like Koko and The Broken Family Band were the latest act to attempt it on Wednesday night. If you haven’t heard them before, their music is an unusual mixture of alternative country and indie-rock. The best way to describe their sound is if Dolly Parton and Romeo from The Magic Numbers had a marginally messed up male lovechild who wanted to make music, this would probably be the style that the said juvenile would create.

Or at least, this was the style of their last album ‘Balls’. From what we heard of their new album ‘Hello Love’ on Wednesday they appear to have surprised no one by tweaking their sound again. Yes, this latest stuff is a little more foot stomping – still mournful but more upbeat and assured. And, if it’s possible, there is now an even greater sense of irony in their music. ‘Leaps’ and ‘Love Your Man, Love your Woman’ are songs that provide evidence of a perennial tendency toward musical evolution within the band. And, the boys have clearly decided to rock out a bit more of late – but the music still works well.

And whilst their sound may change with time, the general tone of the music doesn’t. ‘So Many Lovers’ embodies the style of the band with sad, love-torn lyrics sung alongside a chipper guitar melody. It’s music that forces you to think. Should you feel happy or sad listening to it? What is good music? Does the guy behind me have to stand so close? There is a certain ambivalence about the band that makes me sometimes wonder how seriously they take their music? But I suppose this is part of the reason I like them. Their sound is enigmatic and hard to unfurl.

Of course, the crowd loved the gig and it appears that, whilst The Broken Family Band may not be to everyones’ taste, they will maintain a hard-core following of fans with similarly complex and sceptical feelings about love. They are definitely a band worth going to see if only for the refreshing fact that very few acts sound anything like them. The music is an affront to the senses that goes from the sublime to the slightly out of tune but always entertains.