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COG Review - 4/4/09 (Ghost Frequency/La Shark/O Children)

Club Night Review

Saturday 4^th April at the Lexington

Bands: The Ghost Frequency, La Shark, O Children

Rambling – now that’s a healthy hobby. People don’t ramble enough. This country has great rural landscapes. So why don’t people ramble that often? Because the paths trudged out over many years by these active hobbyists damages the wild look of the areas they travel to appreciate. That’s right, even the act of walking is bad for the environment, which is why you’ll find responsible green types listening to top-notch live music at the Lexington on the first Saturday of the month – conveniently forgetting how the speakers and lights are powered, or how they got there in the first place.

On this Saturday’s event the three bands were of a particularly high standard. Things kicked off with the moody 80s throwback quartet O Children. These days that’s a very vague way of describing a band – everyone harks back to the 80s, but O Children do it very well indeed. On stage, they look and behave like an emaciated Smiths with tight jeans – the lead singer with his moping and posturing, and the Johnny Marr-style shyness and fashionably-unfashionable haircut of the guitarist.

But it’s the singer, Tobias, with his ridiculously tall, angular frame and baritone vocals who dominates proceedings. O Children are simple, catchy and commanding. Obvious comparisons to Joy Division have been made, but there are elements of Depeche Mode, Nick Cave (their name comes from one of his songs) and even some Talking Heads.

Of course this all enforces the fact that, despite claims of a varied musical palette from the 70s to the modern day, O Children are very much of the 80s. There are times when they rise above this – when their downbeat style creates songs like ‘Fault Line’, which is tense, emotive and soars at the end, and all purely from the variation of the vocals as the instruments happily play a simple, constant retro backdrop. It’s at these times when they sound like the 80s with 19 years of reflection, but that’s the exception rather than the rule, which is that they follow the decade’s style a little too faithfully.

It would be interesting to see what they will do when this phase in pop dies out in the next several years, as they have natural talent and charisma, and above all an eye for quality in their work, as their songs are consistently adroit throughout.

Next came the antithesis of O Children, with their uber-cool look fronted by a dark, massive, brooding figure. La Shark’s lead singer has Geronimo in his name. He’s a tiny pale Londoner who looks like he’s descended from a long lineage of chimney sweeps and Lee Bowyer. All that and he sings like a male Edith Piaf and wears a shiny golden blazer. In fact the whole La Shark look and feel is deliberately odd in that typical student ‘look at me, I’m real different cos I ain’t scared of no one and I’m never gonna bow down to society’s conformist dogma’ type thing.

They proffer eccentric indie pop in that quirky manner of Wild Beasts and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, only they take it further. Geronimo’s intensity in their live performance is convincingly symptomatic of an unhinged mentalist, and there’s a genuine uneasiness as you realise they take their slightly comical attire and overacting really very seriously indeed.

But in the end it comes down to the music, which is mostly top-notch. Songs like ‘Memory Lane’ and the excellent and the mostly French ‘Hotel Chevalier’ are catchy, clever, and quirky without foregoing a good tune. They have a knack of composing songs that don’t necessarily start off well, but are so strangely sung they hold your attention long enough for a memorable chorus or an interesting melody to come by and make you bob your head from side to side and smile like a hyperactive child who was crudely lobotomised by way of a knitting needle up the nostrils in order make them shut the hell up. Some parts are a little ‘unpredictable’ just for the sake of it, and a few of their quieter moments are more miss than hit, but that’s nit-picking at what was a striking performance by a very entertaining band.

But La Shark appeared sedate compared to the Ghost Frequency, who lit up the Lexington with immediate electro-punk that was gratefully light on the electro. The five piece boasted two guitarists and someone on the keys who for the most part played it like a unique sounding bass (in much the same way as One Day As A Lion). The drummer excelled – impressing in the usually undemanding role of a punk drummer. The Ghost Frequency are tight, hook-laden, and possess two factors to their success that are somewhat missing in modern powerpop/punk bands: consistency in quality throughout their set, and a sense of not overdoing things.

A problem with the band is that they play an edgy brand music without the menace needed to pull it off. This is mainly because lead singer is a bit of a weak link, in that he looks like Dick & Dom’s lovechild, and sings like the lovechild of Dom and Dick & Dom’s lovechild in some weird all-male procreating incestuous family. Certainly, the fact that he thought his string-thin arms would look good covered in tattoos was a warning sign that he had the vocal power of an asthmatic infant with throat polyps.

As they are young (and therefore influenced by some terrible things through no fault of their own), there is, it has to be said, a slight Linkin Park influence in their live set. But worry not! It’s counterbalanced by a little At the Drive-In style chaotic speed that is unfortunately missing from their MySpace playlist.

But again, these things are small flies in the Ghost Frequency ointment. Their set was superb, they got a mini indie (therefore civilised) moshpit going, and they impressed the packed crowd immensely. They are a very good modern punk band, and (although it seems like it should be easy to get right) that’s a rare thing.

It was yet another successful COG night of mayhem and merriment, which is why it’s best to limit your hobbies to live music in exciting venues near Angel tube station, and leave the countryside views for what they’re really meant for – to have something to look at during dogging sessions. Until next time,

Muhammad Odeh