Live Review

Guillemots – The Rirz, Manchester

• 11th Mar 2008

If it had been any other year in pop music, subsequent copies of Guillemots’ excellent debut, ‘Through The Windowpane’, would be displaying little Winners of the Mercury Prize 2006 stickers; soundtracking many a Mark’s & Spencer’s catered dinner party and likely heard blasting out from passing BMW speakers, but were it not for a certain mega-selling simian-affiliated four-piece.

But whilst the Mercury judges didn’t quite fall head over heels for its prog-tinged pop there appears to have been plenty of Mancunians that did, with tonight’s Ritz show packed to capacity.

With their follow up statement ‘Red’ mere weeks away from its official release, Fyfe and co. begin proceedings with its bass-led opener ‘Kriss Kross’, sounding like the intervening years between releases have been spent fixated on the fractured pop of super-producer Timbaland or drinking from ‘Crunk Juice’ goblets.

Whilst much of the newer material, with tonight’s set a fair mix of re-worked old and new numbers, might be missing some of the seductive hooks and orchestration of yore. Moments such as ‘Standing On The Last Star’, ‘Big Dog’ and new single ‘Get Over It’ inject a lively, mercurial energy into the live show that few, besides the groups hyper-active frontman, could pull off.

But it’s the early big draws that inspire the most noise; the whimsical joy of ‘Made Up Love Song #43’, an absolutely stunning solo Fyfe re-working of ‘We’re Here’- only let down by nearby witless conversations being conducted over the top- and, of course, a joyous reading of ‘Trains To Brazil’.

Bringing the evenings festivities to a close with a double hitter of ‘Sao Paulo’ and ‘Red Wings’, with the formers raising tempo, cinematic scope and “thrown across water” refrain coming close to bringing the overhead disco-balls crashing down.

Despite the groups’ leader stating apologetically at every available opportunity that this is their first show in a very long time, Guillemots (or gUiLLeMoTs if you’re an imbecile) 2008 are a startling sensory overload.