Just imagine the conversation San Cisco had with the
person booking this tour...
Booker:
“G’day
guys, fancy touring the UK this spring?”
Band:
“Spring eh? Sounds good to us, it’s 40 degrees here in Oz and we’re sweating our
cobblers off. What’s the weather like in Pommieland?”
Booker:
“It’s lovely, trust me...you might need a cardie, but no worries sports”
Band:
“Okay, we’ll do it!”
Some weeks later, as San Cisco are chiselling the
icicles off their noses (and other body parts too I imagine), they must surely wish
they were back in Oz. Yep, it’s still freakishly cold here but, for one night
at least, San Cisco bring a little indie pop warmth to the place.
First up though, from closer to home...Stourbridge
to be precise...The Lights. The drums seemed to be a little high in the mix for
much of their set, which made catching some of the vocals a tad tricky, but the
lady Light’s voice is an impressively powerful thang and managed to make it
through the sonic mush relatively unscathed. Occupying the sort of ground that perhaps
Deacon Blue (ask your granddads) held back in the day they’ve got some really
strong tunes, pick of the bunch being the country tinged Low Hundreds, and the
pleasure that they clearly got from playing live, to a decent sized audience,
was pretty infectious.
Formed in 2009 in Freemantle, Western Australia
(where the temperature rarely drops below t-shirt and shorts weather) San Cisco
are fresh from a tour of the US supporting The Vaccines, but this seems to be
their first jaunt across the UK. Bless ‘em. A four piece the core dynamic
revolves around lead vocalist/guitarist Jordi and vocalist/drummer Scarlet and
it’s when this partnership gets going that the magic really happens. From The
White Stripes and Blood Red Shoes through to er...Kylie and Jason, the boy/girl
thing is a pop staple and San Cisco do it better than many, with Jordi’s more upbeat
vocal delivery acting as the perfect foil for Scarlett’s slightly deadpan
style. Things kick off with the Scarlett-less (vocally speaking at least) Golden
Revolver though, which could almost be a jangly distant relative of The Drums
Let’s Go Surfing. Picking up the pace a little Fred Astaire (off current EP
Awkward) quickly showcased Scarlett’s skin pounding. There’s something particularly
sexy about girl drummers, maybe it’s a Freudian thing...big sticks and all
that...er...maybe it’s just me...hmmm...either way she makes it look effortlessly
easy whilst producing the kind of big, beefy sound that often reduces blokes to
a sweaty mess in minutes (mind you it was a touch ‘cool’ in here this evening).
Many of tonight’s songs have an upbeat summertime feel,
perhaps with the exception of the most summery titled one of all, Beach, a
shimmeringly low key synth driven daydream of a tune punctuated by Scarlett’s hauntingly
simple “so far away, so far awaaaaaaay” refrain. Beautiful stuff. It’s the
twisted fairytale world of Wild Things and the relationship on the rocks anthem
Awkward that show San Cisco at their indie pop best though. Both benefit from Jordi
/ Scarlett sharing vocal duties with Wild Things emulating Beach’s more dreamy
feel whilst Awkward’s a full on New New (that’s new) Wave classic replete with
a naggingly catchy da da da da da do do do do do do do singalong chorus and
Jordi channelling his inner Davy Jones on tambourine.
There’s an above average mix of styles and
influences scattered through tonight’s set, from the 60’s psych tinged Reckless
through to the straight ahead Arctic Monkeys-ish rock ‘n’ roll of Stella and,
for a first tour, an impressive turn out too. It really doesn’t take a huge
leap of imagination to see some of their best tracks becoming indie anthems,
with Awkward practically a shoe in for one of the catchiest hits of the year
(yeah I know it’s been out for a while in
Oz but it’s new here right?). Get them on this summer’s festival circuit and it
could be a San-tastic year for them...
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