The Low Anthem, Birmingham Academy 2, February 7th, 2010.
Rhode Island’s finest are fresh off a successful year, riding into 2010 with the critical acclaim of ‘Oh My God, Charlie Darwin’ ringing in their ears. It’s a sleepy Sunday night in the second city and before The Low Anthem take the stage we are treated to Brownbird complete with lateral finger-picking, violining and a kick-drumming lead singer, their brand of travelling gypsy folk warming the crowd perfectly. David Ford follows; “the meat in your sandwich” as he puts it.
The revellers soon have their appetite satisfied and although lyrically he needs to be careful not to become a pastiche, his soulful, snarly yet melodic vocals work well with his minimalist approach and when he uses a pedal to layer his songs his talent is apparent, creating an organised cacophony. The Low Anthem take to the stage, their humble and low key entrance does little to prepare you for for the wonderfully confident, impressive and well-received performance that follows.
Switching instruments between basically every song, the four-piece meld woodwind with strings, harmonium with luscious vocal harmonies, the latter of which substantiates comparisons with their contemporaries Fleet Foxes. There can be a problem with folk music at times, it is a well-worn path and cliché is always a difficult obstacle to overcome. The immediately noticeable sincerity and warmth on display here quickly hurdles that however, the title song of their aforementioned LP a particular highlight; full band vocal participation and flawless instrumentation yet again.
You get the feeling tonight that whatever they touch will turn to gold, a feeling supported by a two-minute bass solo that leads into swampy blues, a testament to their great American forbears. A novel touch is when lead singer Ben Knox-Miller invites us to call each other during the next song, the result is a ghostly chorus of echoes as the song reverberates around the venue via the mobile phones being held aloft. They pull Brownbird back up onstage for a ‘traditional american song’ and although this has the potential to grate it only provides further evidence that as far as providing affecting and memorable live performances go….
The Low Anthem are second-to-none.
Words: Liam Flowers
Picture: Jay Somerville
2 Comments
Top review of a great band. Thank you
I suppose it’s a sign of the times when the audience is requested to turn on mobile phones. In my day the only thing we had to do was wave a lighter. That had to stop when the bloody tent burned down. Nice picture by that girl Jay.