THIS blustery autumnal Saturday night sees OTHER LIVES make their first appearance in Liverpool.
Blown over from the Atlantic all the way from Oklahoma, they are the latest in an increasingly long line of pastoral American folk rockers riding the wave that swept onto British shores in the form of Fleet Foxes in 2009.
Support band ANOTHER BLOOD are forced to cancel for unknown reasons so it is left to SUNDOWERS to warm up the crowd.
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| Sundowners - sixties vibes |
The group wear their influences on their gaping sleeves and their flair in their, well, flairs.
FLEETWOOD MAC and EAGLES are clearly strong influences, with sweet and soulful harmonies sweetening reverb laden Rickenbacher riffs and four to the floor drum patterns.
The BYRDS and MAMAS AND PAPAS are evident in the bands more mellow moments and there is a tight efficiency between band members, while the music itself has an uncomplicated sweetness which is warming without ever setting ablaze.
The crowd doesn’t have to wait long for Other Lives, and from the armada of instruments they bring onto the stage it is clear they mean business, and judging by the size of the crowd packed into Leaf’s upstairs, that business is booming.
Leaf is fast becoming a small venue with a big reputation, and tonight it seems the ideal setting for a band of this ilk; their setup looks perfect set behind claret drapes and under a sea of mirrorballs.
As the band finish the last pieces of tinkering a hush descends before they break into a powerful rendition of As I Lay My Head Down, a percussively driven piece with aching vocals and an almost wolf howl backing vocal that sets the spine-tingling.
Trumpet trills announce Dark Horse, an album highlight with a regal feel that remains impressive despite some of its orchestration left in the studio. Deep booms from a huge floor tom give it depth, while cello and violin intermingle to beautiful effect.
The album has been well adapted for live performances and loses little of its orchestral qualities, and if anything the sound intensified by the live nature.
Many of the songs are themed around nature, its awe-inspiring power and force as well as its delicacies.
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| Jesse Tabish |
Led by singer Jesse Tabish, with his guitar slung over his back, hunched over his piano, they take the audience on a journey through this, evoked no better than in Landforms, with its pounding rhythm section engulfed by piano, violin and cello all in tandem.
Weather shows the bands musicality at its grandiose best while Tabish’s stunning vocal never dwarfs or is dwarfed by the swirling music surrounding it. For 12 is the most comparable with Fleet Foxes, a delicate number with stunning vocals which are dwarfed slightly here but the instrumentation.
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| Second Album Tamer Animals |
Album title track Tamer Animals is led by rolling drums and reverb-laden piano, and is reminiscent of early WILDS BEASTS, its sparse arrangements leaving room for Tabish’s chilling vocals to fill the gaps.
There isn’t a great deal of interaction with the crowd – in fact Tabish seems quite shy when separated from his keyboard, and his voice surprisingly light and thin in comparison to his vocal.
That said he does have some choice words to complement the audience and express a meaningfulness to being in Liverpool which goes does well.
After a more rootsy track from their first album they finish their set on Dust Bowl III.
From its acoustic plucked opening it slowly transforms into an air-born entity, conjuring up images of dusty and barren landscapes that we are gradually elevated from and sent swirling into the air, transported somewhere between the ground and outer space.
When after a short encore they gracefully depart the stage, the audience suddenly comes to, as if snapped out of a trance.
It is a testament to these fine musicians that they can create music so evocative; never overwhelming, yet quietly impressive like a wave that swells but never quite breaks.
It is an enthralling experience that feels like a journey over land, water and space. In the air, in flight, this is a band going places.
