Live Review

The Duke Spirit – Heaven, London

• 9th Feb 2011

With all the fuss about the annual Hype of 2011 Awards for 5 (un)lucky newcomers, its easy to forget that there are so many worthwhile acts never quite given the leg up by the BBC. The Duke Spirit are one such outfit. Having never quite found commercial success on these shores the London outfit have certainly built up a groundswell of critical acclaim and acceptance both here and in the US through their live show, collaborations (Chris Goss, UNKLE) and other extra-curricular matters (lead singer Liela Moss has appeared on tshirts by Alexander McQueen). However, it’s now been three years since phenomenal second album ‘Neptune’ (certainly this writer’s favourite of 2008) and the worry could well be that their inability to translate these credentials into a sizeable fanbase is beginning to count against them. Early signs aren’t too promising – we may be here for an NME Awards night but a glance around Heaven before the band comes onstage confirms that this smallish venue is not quite sold out.

Kicking off with the slink of ‘The Step And The Walk’, straight away The Duke Spirit play like they’ve never been away, sounding just as fuzzed out and powerful as we remember them. With Luke Ford and Toby Butler on squalling twin guitar duties and the old school rhythm of drummer Olly Betts and new bassist Marc Sallis(and all looking cool as eff), the undercurrent of barely-repressed noise and energy is a thrilling proposition live. Tracks like ‘Lassoo’ and ‘Darling You’re Mean’ possess a primally affecting sound that somehow welds the mesmeric brilliance of The Jesus & Mary Chain to the sweetness of vintage pop acts like Nancy Sinatra.

As a preview for forthcoming third album ‘Bruiser’, there are several new songs tonight that don’t redefine The Duke Spirit template but certainly consolidate what makes them great and show that the band have not lost their songwriting chops with the time spent away. As well as current single ‘Everybody’s Under Your Spell’, there’s a great fuzzy bass line stalking its way through ‘Procession’. The undoubted pick of the new ones is the more reflective ‘Northbound’ coming later in the set, which sees Moss on a miniature piano. Meanwhile there is a decent share from both previous albums, with ‘Into The Void’ and main set closer ‘Love Is An Unfamiliar Name’ showing off their muscle and encore track ‘This Ship Was Built To Last’ proving the band know their way round a swooning melody.

But without wanting to be so reductive as to rename them Liela Duke and The Spirits, the fact remains that for their great sound, the band’s appeal live is embodied by the astonishingly magnetic presence of their lead singer. Bounding onstage in a gold blazer and the tiniest of hotpants, there are even audible swoons from the female fans near me as she wrestles the mic stand and doesn’t so much demand the audience’s attention as stand and cooly shrug “well here I am, you might as well pay attention because it doesn’t get much better than this.” And it doesn’t. Commanding every single inch of the stage and every pair of eyes in the room, Moss is truly one of the most astonishing fronthumans of any genre of the last 10 years – Florence, Marina et al take note.

Signing off with an emphatic ‘Cuts Across The Land’, The Duke Spirit certainly got this audience talking – although you suspect they might fairly enjoy their current status, no could begrudge them should their new album see them hit the heights they deserve.