The first time I heard about A Genuine Freakshow was at Summer Sundae Weekender, ‘You gotta come and see this band, they are the next Arcade Fire’. What I hear isn’t exactly that, if we are to put things in genres, Arcade Fire are alternative rock and A Genuine Freakshow have a more indie-pop edge. However, like Arcade Fire, the instrumentation of the band and the anthems in some of the songs is enough to fill stadiums. There album ‘Oftentimes’ shows just this. Both big singalong’s such as ‘I Can Feel his Heartbeats’ and the beautiful simplicity of tracks such as ‘Warning Shot’ make for a very nice debut and a very underrated band.
The album opens with ‘We are the Undercurrents’ beginning with Sigur Ros type crackles and a melodic piano. The album continues into ‘I Can Feel his Heartbeats’ which has a very catchy chorus and see the swooping violins nicely compliment the vocals of Tim Sutcliffe. ‘New Houses’ is a indie ballad and the almost whispered falsetto’s of Sutcliffe make the song one of the albums highlights. ‘Holding Hands’ begins as a simple song but soon builds up into a full orchestra melody, before the last track ‘Warning Shot’ gives the listener a very different feel to the rest of the album. The electric guitar has been replaced for an acoustic one and Sutcliffe’s voice is much simpler, and more natural. This song is easily my highlight of the album, but a committed Genuine Freakshow fan may feel it is drifting too far from there heavy orchestrated sound.
This album has so many brilliant bursts of creativity, interesting instrumentation and stunning vocals from a very talented singer. It doesn’t capture you like an Arcade Fire album does, but its very listenable and I think its the sort of thing that can be liked by the masses. At the moment this band are floating around the alternative scene but I think with singles like ‘I Can Feel his Heartbeats’ they would fit much better in the mainstream. Having already played over 80 shows across the UK and a sold out show at Bush Hall, I think its only a matter of time before they will be tackling much much bigger ground.
Best tracks: Warning Shot, Houses, I Can Feel his Heartbeats
Summer Sundae 2010, as in many past years, boasted a pretty brilliant line-up. For a small festival, it gets pretty good bands and also a wide range of music with a bit of something for everyone. This year the headliners were Seasick Steve, Tinchy Stryder and Mumford & Sons, the latter was the main reason I chose to go to this festival. As a festival Summer Sundae isn’t the best. It lacks atmosphere and the nightlife is pretty non-existant but instead its very family friendly and very musically focused. I saw a lot of brilliant bands, and musically it was a fantastic weekend!
The first band I saw were Peggy Sue who are always a bit of a hit and miss band for me. Their voices are amazing and some of there songs are really good but there album was a big miss for me. I enjoyed their set though, they mixed some of the better new songs with old hits like Lazarus and The Sea The Sea. Fanfarlo were one of my must-sees but they fortune-teller had to cancel and were replaced by Fionn Regan. It was pretty gutting for me as I’d been really looking forward to Fanfarlo. Headed across to the Last.fm rising stage next for Lissie. She’s gained a lot of exposure this year and rightly so. Her album is brilliant and her live shows are always a treat. She has a lot of energy and seems genuinely so grateful to all her fans. She has a UK tour planned for the autumn so I recommend catching her on one of those dates before she gets massive.
The highlight of my Friday and one of the highlights of the whole festival were Slow Club who played the Indoor Stage on Friday night. They are one band who I like so so much more live than on record, although they are good on record too. Live they are so brilliant, one of my favourite bands and one who I always try and catch at festivals or if they tour. They played quite a few new songs alongside the old favourites. There energy is fantastic and they deliver some pretty funny banter in between songs. Love Slow Club!
I was working on Saturday during the day but was positioned in the last.fm rising stage and so came across a beautiful band called Isbells. They are from Belgium and encompass Bon Iver and Sigur Ros creating a dreamy beautiful sound. I enjoyed there set a lot and shall definitely be listening to some of their recorded stuff in the future. Also caught a set by a band called A Genuine Freakshow who were very Arcade Fire ish with a more punk-pop edge. I was advised by a friend to go and see Tunng and I am incredibly glad I did as it was another highlight of the weekend. Their music is very dreamy but also full of energy and the frontman was fantastic. Their music on record is very good too, very original. They could be ones to watch!
The Go! Team were also very good, the front woman had fantastic energy and I really enjoyed their set. I then caught Tinchy Stryder and The Whip, both which were quite amusing and good fun. I think Tinchy Stryder had more people their who were simply interested why such bad music does so well, thats why I went, but I actually enjoyed it in the end, but I wouldn’t rush to buy any of his music.
The line-up for Sunday was one of the best I have ever seen from a small festival. I saw Summer Camp first who are a band I LOVE at the moment, so much love for there music, its brilliant! I have seen them live once before and they were very good but on this occasion they were even better. They are just so good! Cannot wait for their EP which comes out very soon! Then caught a little of Johnny Flynn before going back to work. He is always good live, but the past two times I have seen him he has had a sore throat so it was nice to see him in full form again. I think a lot of Mumford fans went along because the program said he was a ‘must for fans of Mumford & Sons’, hopefully he will have gained a lot more fans which he really deserves as his songwriting is incredible.
The Low Anthem’s set was very interesting. I only know a few of their songs which are all folky and quite quiet but they have a lot of very bluesy rock songs too. It was very varied and at one point they all picked up various wind instruments and had a little quartet. I think I prefer songs like Charlie Darwin on record but still, it was nice to see them live. Next for Ellen and the Escapades. I have lost track of how many times I have seem them live, I think this was my eighth time. They weren’t aloud to play with drums or bass so the set was quite different to normal but really lovely all the same. One of the songs had some nice calypso/country vibes going on which was pretty good.
After Ellen I headed straight back to the main stage to see Local Natives and then the mighty Mumford. Local Natives were brilliant live, they sounded just like they do on their album. Flawless harmonies and really good songs. I have had their album since it was released but have to admit I’ve never given it a proper listen so after seeing them I definitely will be doing. Mumford & Sons were the Sunday headline and it was the first time they had ever headlined a festival. As a long-time Mumford fan it was weird to think how far they have come. I remember seeing them for the first time in the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds which is a pretty small venue and then, my sixth time seeing them is when they are headlining a festival. Part of me is pleased for their success, but I also wish they were still small so I could have them all to myself again! They were fantastic as they always are. My favourite live band ever and just incredible. Undoubtedly the highlight of the weekend.
Overall, some fantastic bands and a good weekend. The blogging shall be back to normal now until I go to Leeds Festival in a week. A few New Treats, album reviews, and some New Music coming for you soon
