/>
musicOMH
home | features | albums | tracks | live | classical | blog
Facebook Twitter
search:

The Wave Pictures

@ Library, Leeds, 12 August 2008
4 stars
The Wave Pictures
The Wave Pictures
Apparently The Wave Pictures have been going for quite some time.

In every tear-stained article about the threesome from Loughborough, the winces and grimaces of the big push, the final countdown or the great escape are writ large.

If they have been travelling with instruments in tow for a decade now, they may have passed unnoticed. But not by the glorious likes of the late John Peel and the few others that are willing to take a chance on a (sorry Bambi) little-known plaid shirted band.
They're efforts so far are incredibly symptomatic of a band who simply do not exist with gimmick. They do not have special birthday outfits or own a name like 'Die...Kill...Eat...Your...Own...Liver', and this, sadly, is probably why they're not number 27 on NME's Cool List - as incomprehensively offensive and trivial as this seems.

So in this somewhat demure setting of the Leeds Library, promoting new EP Just Like A Drummer, are Dave Tattersall, Franic Rozycki and Jonny Helm, playing for people in spectacles. And the bespectacled plenty are happy to see them, nursing their pints and whispering, "I thought you put me on't guest list?"

Simply, they are modest and demure. Tattersall's lyrics are poignant for the quaint, sweet, observant individual on I Love You Like A Madman: "I'll buy you bras instead of pickled eggs, chocolate instead of chutney, good red wine instead of bad red wine, next time I'll remember your birthday." Who wouldn't like a man that rhymes chutney with birthday?

And his voice manages the twist. But his poetic grace, as he rocks to-and-fro on his heels, isn't all saccharine and pickled eggs. His voice in all its hypnotic turns, has a deadpan default that makes him dark, awkward and humble.

Rozycki and Helm are jovial and steady, creating a ditty reminiscent of Belle And Sebastian with occasional fiddle or trumpet. It could be folksy, could be surf pop at times, and most certainly is Dave's blues as they play through Leave The Scene Behind and Dust Off Your Heart.

As they look from one to another in assurance, they have a real air of familiarity with their work that artists could only have from honestly persevering. The Wave Pictures deserve every good word written about them, in credit for every lovely word Tattersall has delivered.


Comments


now in music
Field Music
INTERVIEW
Field Music

David Brewis on the band's latest album Plumb and side projects.
Errors
Q&A
Errors

Steev Livingstone on unexpected tweets and Mogwai connections.
more live music reviews
    1. The Black Keys @ Alexandra Palace, London
    2. Friends @ XOYO, London
    3. Astronautalis @ Clandestino, Faenza, Italy
    4. Tim Hecker @ St Giles-in-the-Fields, London
    5. Roots Manuva @ Roundhouse, London
    6. Nicolas Jaar @ Roundhouse, London
    7. We Are Augustines @ Borderline, London
    8. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins @ Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
    9. Wild Flag @ Electric Ballroom, London
    10. Laura Veirs @ Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
    11. Orchestra Baobab @ Barbican, London
    12. Michael Chapman, Dean McPhee & Daniel Land @ Lexington, London
    13. Babybird @ Academy, Oxford
    14. Explosions In The Sky @ Brixton Academy, London
    15. The Dø @ Bush Hall, London
    16. Childish Gambino @ CAMP, London
    17. Bonnie Prince Billy @ Hackney Empire, London
    18. Damien Jurado @ Enterprise, London
    19. M83 @ Concorde 2, Brighton
    20. DJ Food @ Peter Harrison Planetarium, London
    21. A Winged Victory For The Sullen @ Cecil Sharp House, London
    22. Lanterns On The Lake @ Cargo, London
    23. Slow Club @ Union Chapel, London
    24. Black Lips @ Heaven, London
    25. Levellers @ Brixton Academy, London
    26. Caro Emerald @ Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
    27. Death In Vegas @ Concorde 2, Brighton
    28. Kate Jackson @ Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, London
    29. I Break Horses @ Cargo, London
    30. Standard Fare @ Shakespeare's, Sheffield
    31. M83 @ Heaven, London
related articles
ALBUM: The Wave Pictures - Beer In The Breakers
ALBUM: The Wave Pictures - Sweetheart EP
ALBUM: The Wave Pictures - Just Like A Drummer EP
ALBUM: The Wave Pictures - Instant Coffee Baby
GIG: The The Wave Pictures @ Bush Hall, London
GIG: The The Wave Pictures @ Library, Leeds
external
The Wave Pictures



  more live reviews...