Live Review

Revere – Plug N Play, Reading

• 18th Nov 2009

Revelry @ Plug n Play: Aubrey Dye, Auto De Fe, A Genuine Freakshow, Revere, Friday 13th November 2009

First up, at the latest in an increasingly long line of Revelry nights, is Aubrey Dye, who gets things off to an intimate but no less engaging start. The music is in no way original, but then how can it be when it consists of a girl and an acoustic guitar? But it doesn’t need to be original to be good, and when the whole audience is silent, it gives a good indication of the quality on show. The highlight of the set is ‘Drawn’. which is reminiscent of a young Chrissie Hynde.

Basingstoke boys Auto De Fe arrive fully formed, testing the good will of their audience by subjecting us to, amongst other things, a ten-minute psychedelic cacophony of noise. Fortunately, it’s a gamble that pays off for the most part. ‘Appomattox’ is a monster, evolving from groovy Nick McCabe (of the Verve) guitar, through to a stonking jam that sounds like the Music fronted by Jeff Buckley, before finally becoming a the soundtrack to the best spaghetti western there never was. It‘s quite pretentious, with snippets of random quotations sprinkled liberally throughout, and front man Daniel Pattison even utilises a police megaphone on more than one occasion. But then a little pretension never hurt anybody.

Local talent A Genuine Freakshow follow, and provide a welcome relief to the melodrama. Guitarist and lead vocalist Timothy Sutcliffe is quite the entertainer, keeping the audience amused between numbers with ad-libbed quips. And at certain points, specifically on ‘I Can Feel His Heartbeats’, his voice soars and fills the venue. He should go far, as should the rest of the band., who are clearly more than capable musicians, with eclectic influences. Trumpets and strings garnish the songs, and this reviewer is sure he heard a French horn at one stage. However, some of the songs themselves need work; the contrast between the frantic chorus and maudlin verse on ‘Holding Hearts’ means they can lose momentum, and in certain cases interest. But a promising showing nonetheless.

All 8 (8!!!) members of Revere take the stage as headliners, as the shadow of Arcade Fire continues to cast itself over musicians of a certain disposition. That’s not necessarily a criticism, but it feels like there is too much going on stage. As well as the standard drums/guitar/bass, we also have violin, glockenspiel, cello and keys all vying for our attention. Taken as a whole, they all serve a purpose, each adding to the epic sound, which will be sound-tracking a show narrated by David Attenborough by this time next year. But there is so much going on stage it detracts from the songs themselves, which are beautiful and uplifting, albeit somewhat over-cooked. Right band, wrong place.

Words by Richard Bowes