Benjamin Francis Leftwich // Daughter - Oxford October 2011

We’re an honest bunch here at CDX towers, and I guess the first thing to say would be that there is no actual CDX Towers, it’s one of those metaphorical places, like the warmness of a friend’s heart, or baggage reclaim at Heathrow Terminal 5. So I can honestly say that when I got news that I had been given the opportunity to see Benjamin Francis Leftwich live on his current UK tour, I was hugely excited. However, the reason that I was hugely excited was to see his main support act of the tour, Daughter. I have listened to their recent His Young Heart EP more times than I’d care to admit. As for Benjamin Francis Leftwich himself, I’d had a couple of listens to his album, and had heard Atlas Hands quite a few times, but the level of excitement to see him wasn’t all that high.

Monument Valley, a solo singer/guitar player had also joined Benjamin and Daughter for a number of dates on the tour, and this was his last show of the run. This means that of the three acts, all were just playing a combination of acoustic and electric guitar. No drums, no bass, not even a triangle tapped in anger. This leads me on to the main negative point from this gig. This was the only date of the tour that was being played at an O2 Academy, and for this kind of music, it felt like two jigsaw pieces that wouldn’t fit together. O2 Academies are generally quite vapid, impersonal spaces. They work fine for bands and artists that being plenty of noise and colour with them, as they can take control of the room. But on this occasion, the music struggled to take over control of the space. You can see why the likes of James Blake didn’t play at these venues during his live run, it just doesn’t fit.

So onto the performances themselves. Monument Valley was ok, although the tracks did all blur into one giant lump, like a mild cheddar. Daughter were captivating to watch, but had to constantly raise their sound levels to battle the crowd who kept raising their volume as the sound got louder, as important things had to be discussed; you know, things like Facebook, Ed Sheeran, Jack Wills and the like. But what I did get to hear of Daughter was fantastic. There’s a wonderful balance between the vocals and acoustic guitar of Elena Tonra and these fleeting, fretful, sweet and sour electric guitar glimpses from Igor Haefeli. The shyness of Elena is also ridiculously endearing, but this is a great act that seems destined for great things.

After being treated to listening to Takk by Sigur Rós almost in its entirety while waiting, Benjamin Francis Leftwich took to the stage armed only with a couple of guitars and a sparkly backdrop, and showed that he could breathe some life into this venue, and equally take hold of the audience. He opened with 1904 and straight away showed what he is capable of. His voice is engrossing and captivating, and he has a presence that is very watchable. He played a new track called Break The Day Open where he stepped off-mic and switched off his guitar amp, so he was playing completely acoustic. The silence from the crowd was impressive, but it just left me wishing they’d shown at least some of this respect to the warm up acts.

With only one LP and one EP to choose tracks to play from, he helped fill up some time by playing a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Atlantic City which was a welcome change of pace. He also gave an airing to plenty of other tracks from the LP which sounded good in their stripped back live form, such as Butterfly Culture and Box of Stones. On the final track before the encore the first sing-along moment broke out as he played what is seemingly everybody’s favourite track, Atlas Hands.

So while the venue and the crowd did its best at times to be the fire blanket to the chip pan flame of the evening, the music just about won the fight.

Bombay Bicycle Club - Oxford October 2011

Bombay Bicycle Club rode their merry way into Oxford for the latest night of their biggest UK tour to date, in support of their recently released third album, A Different Of Fix.

Supporting were Dry The River, a five piece who spent most of their time attempting to prove why they aren’t a four piece. Unfortunately for them, their violinist was expertly hidden near the edge of the stage, and well obscured by a well-placed tall gent in front of me for a large amount of time. So imagine my surprise when two and a half tracks into their set, I suddenly spot this violinist, because I had certainly struggled to even notice his sound. Other than that, Dry The River sounded good, with a nice mix between the softer, quieter moments, and some huge eruptions of alt-rock noise. The voice of lead singer and guitarist Peter Liddle was particularly impressive; it’s a powerful voice that is full of feeling, like a slightly more rocking version of Guy Garvey.

After some Fat Man Scoop and House of Pain to get the crowd in the mood, an even more fractured cut of the already off-kilter piano loop from Shuffle burst out from the speakers, and the band took to the stage. Opening with Shuffle worked nicely as it showed the band had no fear in blasting through one of the most anticipated tracks of the night as they know they have a great depth of material to choose from. The band tore through a good chunk of new tracks from Fix, such as Your Eyes, Leave It and one of my favourites of the night, What You Want. Lucy Rose, who recorded vocals alongside lead singer’s Jack Steadman on Fix has also joined them on tour, which helps bring those tracks to life.

A couple of tracks from their second album, Flaws, got an airing too, and they got as big a reaction as anything else that was played. On the whole, the set list was designed to store up the big numbers from their first album to unleash towards the end. There were a few hugely pleasing aspects to this. Firstly, that it seems easy to forget just how many brilliant tracks there were from that first album; secondly that these tracks have grown, matured and really taken root within people’s consciousness. Thirdly, the band look like they still have such a great time playing these tracks; they are not a burden to bear as can be the case for some bands who have decided that some part of their older material was ‘shit’ (take a bow Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon, et al…..).

While it was enjoyable hearing the new tracks played live, the older tracks completely won the day. On Evening/Morning, the two bass bridges felt like they were erupting through the walls and the floor, twinned with the lights blitzing frenzied white colour, it was an awesome spectacle. An often overlooked or overplayed element, the lighting was great throughout. On the haunting Still, played as the first encore track, Steadman sat at the piano bathed in blue light while Lucy Rose sat at the opposite side of the stage, and was bathed in orange light while assisting Steadman with vocals during the chorus, then disappearing back into the darkness when falling silent. It was a nice touch as it created a feeling of solitude and coldness to match the lyrics of the verses, while the chorus’ felt warmer.

The most impressive thing from the show is how full the set list feels. There are no flat tyres here on this bicycle, this is a band with a mighty selection of tracks to choose from and who have a captivating live show.