Live Review

Crystal Stilts – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

• 4th Apr 2011

When Crystal Stilts last played here in 2009 they were riding high on the success and acclaim of Alight of Night. Two years later they return ahead of the release of its follow up, In Love With Oblivion, and given the crowds mulling about it seems people are keen for more. Why all the mulling? We can’t enter the band room. Crystal Stilts are sound checking late due to an unspecified ”Dental Emergency”.

Between 2110 and 2136 a support band happens, followed by another.

From the massively swollen right cheek it’s easy to deduce that singer Brad Hargett is the victim of the dental emergency. On record his singing is muttered and mumbled then drenched in echo, so oral affliction will make for interesting aural experience tonight. But I guess his condition isn’t too serious as he’s still drinking beer.

The set is short, sweet and largely based on the new album with the addition of previous singles “Love Is A Wave” and “Departure”. Amazingly the singing is more comprehensible than last time, (maybe it’s the novocaine), and the drums sounds richer too, now that they have added cymbals to the kit. The band remained focused on their playing and audience interaction is minimal, but at least this time they seem more interested on being on stage than last time.

Live, Crystal Stilts come across less like a lazy lo-fi version of The Doors and more as their own band, mixing heady psychedelia with the fuzzy tones of Jesus and Mary Chain and the keyboard flourishes of Magazine. I don’t know if their music has evolved from trying to capture the live sound in the studio or recreate the studio sound live but tonight it becomes clear that their live show is evolving more pleasingly than their albums. The short set is closed with a brief encore featuring their most promising song, “Shattered Shine”.

If they had played like this last time I imagine they would have returned to play in a larger venue. Crystal Stilts need to come across to audiences like they did tonight more often if they want to impress otherwise people will be leaving thinking the deserved hype has been shattered. They can’t keep depending on dental emergencies to do this, they’ll have a toothless singer in no time, so lets hope that they have a better long term strategy.