I had seen their debut gig in The Front Page and been impressed. After
six years of not gigging they played fine songs confidently. Tonight was
even better - they were the main event and, as the opening riff to
'That would be the life' bounced across the bar, it was easy to see why. I,
for one would like to see people at a festival pogoing and singing along to this
on a summer's day at some point in the future; it makes me feel ridiculously
happy. 'That would be the life' segued into 'Lazy Days' and I liked the
somewhat strained harmonies in this tune about not really being bothered. The
rest of the crowd were clearly impressed with the attention-grabbing opening
too. Prolonged applause followed.
An addittion to the set list from The Front Page was 'Swimming pool
skies', whose warm, upbeat riff drew the first members of the crowd onto the
dancefloor and held them there. The epic sounding 'This is now'
followed; this song along with the two openers are on the band's CD - get your
hands on a copy however you can.
'It doesn't seem' was up next and was also a new one on me. It seemed
to me that by this stage in the night, with the reception they were getting,
the band were growing in confidence. I actually thought that this was a
cover that they simply hadn't introduced as such. It is not the type of
bog-standard, local rock, song that we are all-too-familiar with and their
confidence especially shone through in the outro for this one. Another
surprise which drew even more onto the dancefloor was the irresistably
jazzy 'Writer's Block', which contained drumming reminiscent of 'The Doors',
and fantastically funky accompaniment.
Demonstrating, what I imagine to be, only a portion of the diversity of
influences surrounding this band, they played a cover of The Beatles'
'Flying' which leapt flawlessly into Pavement's 'Trigger Cut'. They were
clearly commanding the attention of all by the time we reached the last
song 'Bizarre'. This was what they finished with in The Front Page and I was
veryglad to hear it again. It begins like a sprawling epic then, dabbles
with Brian Wilson-esque harmonies, leaps into a rock crescendo which echoes
the opening and builds to a finish - I think. Really, you need to hear it
to appreciate it fully. And you should, at the next possible opportunity.
I think this is an important local band who are, as they say in 'Bizarre',
"not what you expected" - And more power to them!
[by Phat Bob]
THE EMBERS
Belfast Front Page 25th July 2002
For those of you who don't know (or don't remember) The Embers used to be called Nation's Spies and caused some ripples when they emerged in Belfast about six years ago. It's quite weird that this is the first show I've seen since I came home - I've been away for nearly five years - and this band hasn't played in all that time.
In some respects it's like they've never been gone. I recognise a lot of the material from old Nation's Spies tapes and it really is a thrill to hear it all brought back to life. These songs were always to good to hide away so hopefully more people will hear them this time around. Although they were the support act tonight - headliners Drat aren't in this the review as I had to leave during their set - the Embers get a great reception. Three of the songs are from their excellent self-titled demo which a few people are aware of, and as a nod to their influences they even play a Pavement cover!
The musical influences aren't as obvious as that. Sure Pavement are still in there somewhere but the Embers come across as more original these days. 'That would be the Life' is a great pop song, but it's also a lot more complex than that with it's shifting melody lines. There's no visible trace of the nerves I expected and the band's laidback delivery is prefect on songs like 'Lazy Days'. Newer material like 'This is Now' hint at more drawn out experimental songs, moving away from the pop side of things. If this is indicative of the material to come, the Embers could well be onto something special.
[by Jonathan]
