Review by Jake Carter
I’ve been meaning to catch The Jacobins play live for quite a while since hearing their self-released EP. It’s a great piece of work that has a nice upbeat indie-pop sound and I’d recommend it to everyone. Anyhow, for Friday’s gig at The Full Moon I was expecting a simple and clean sound, similar to that of their EP, and that’s what we got - especially since their drummer was absent for the performance, so a couple of acoustic guitars and a bass were all the instruments present.
Due to the nature of The Jacobins’ sound, not having a drummer for the night didn’t seem to effect things too much, and they still put on a good performance regardless. Their simple set-up was pleasant on my ears and created a relaxing vibe for the evening. The sound was somewhere between an open mic and a full band set-up, and it was just nice to sit back and appreciate the toned downed set.
I recognised a few songs from their EP on the night, and also noticed a few new ones too, which seemed pretty promising for future releases. Their songs appear pretty happy on the surface, but I sense melancholy undertones throughout that open them right up, and this gives of the impression that they’re actually more deep-rooted upon closer inspection. Highlights for me included the really beautiful ‘A Thousand Stars’ and also ‘City Lights’, which is what they ended on and is what seems to be their most popular song.
The next and last band of the night were Sound Casino, who I’d not heard of until a couple of hours prior to the gig, as the band who had originally been scheduled to play had pulled out. I obviously wasn’t sure what to expect from these fours lads, and after hearing them sound check I was even more unsure as it didn’t seem like my kind of music. But, there’s a reason for sound checks, and there’s a reason for ignoring them as much as possible - no band is going to sound great sorting out the levels and shit-bits.
Once they were all sorted and when there was a bigger audience present, Sound Casino entered the stage, kicked things off and sounding absolutely fantastic. Their first song of the night, was for me, their best song of the night and left me with a lasting impression. They were a really energetic band and the front-man had great vigor and stage confidence. They threw in a few covers during their set - actually I lost count of how many - which included ‘Club foot’ by Kasabian and ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ by the Verve. These songs - especially the Kasabian cover - fitted in quite well with their own material, and gives you a bit of an inkling of what they sound like.
During some of Sound Casino’s faster moments, they really reminded me of the faster paced songs of British Sea Power - lots of energy and steaming vocals. The vocals from the lead singer were one of the most impressive things about the band, as I simply wasn’t expecting too much to begin with. It really goes to show that judging early on isn’t always a wise idea, and that you can never underestimate the power of the audience - this music game truly works both ways.
Despite that face that The Jacobins and Sound Casino have pretty different styles, the night was a success and went quite smoothly considering one band had one less member than usual, and the other was drafted in as a last minute replacement. To make this night a complete one though, there was really just one thing left for me to do: take to the dance floor and practice my best Ian Curtis dance with the fantastic DJ Sweetjayne on the decks. Success!
I’ve been meaning to catch The Jacobins play live for quite a while since hearing their self-released EP. It’s a great piece of work that has a nice upbeat indie-pop sound and I’d recommend it to everyone. Anyhow, for Friday’s gig at The Full Moon I was expecting a simple and clean sound, similar to that of their EP, and that’s what we got - especially since their drummer was absent for the performance, so a couple of acoustic guitars and a bass were all the instruments present.
Due to the nature of The Jacobins’ sound, not having a drummer for the night didn’t seem to effect things too much, and they still put on a good performance regardless. Their simple set-up was pleasant on my ears and created a relaxing vibe for the evening. The sound was somewhere between an open mic and a full band set-up, and it was just nice to sit back and appreciate the toned downed set.
I recognised a few songs from their EP on the night, and also noticed a few new ones too, which seemed pretty promising for future releases. Their songs appear pretty happy on the surface, but I sense melancholy undertones throughout that open them right up, and this gives of the impression that they’re actually more deep-rooted upon closer inspection. Highlights for me included the really beautiful ‘A Thousand Stars’ and also ‘City Lights’, which is what they ended on and is what seems to be their most popular song.
The next and last band of the night were Sound Casino, who I’d not heard of until a couple of hours prior to the gig, as the band who had originally been scheduled to play had pulled out. I obviously wasn’t sure what to expect from these fours lads, and after hearing them sound check I was even more unsure as it didn’t seem like my kind of music. But, there’s a reason for sound checks, and there’s a reason for ignoring them as much as possible - no band is going to sound great sorting out the levels and shit-bits.
Once they were all sorted and when there was a bigger audience present, Sound Casino entered the stage, kicked things off and sounding absolutely fantastic. Their first song of the night, was for me, their best song of the night and left me with a lasting impression. They were a really energetic band and the front-man had great vigor and stage confidence. They threw in a few covers during their set - actually I lost count of how many - which included ‘Club foot’ by Kasabian and ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ by the Verve. These songs - especially the Kasabian cover - fitted in quite well with their own material, and gives you a bit of an inkling of what they sound like.
During some of Sound Casino’s faster moments, they really reminded me of the faster paced songs of British Sea Power - lots of energy and steaming vocals. The vocals from the lead singer were one of the most impressive things about the band, as I simply wasn’t expecting too much to begin with. It really goes to show that judging early on isn’t always a wise idea, and that you can never underestimate the power of the audience - this music game truly works both ways.
Despite that face that The Jacobins and Sound Casino have pretty different styles, the night was a success and went quite smoothly considering one band had one less member than usual, and the other was drafted in as a last minute replacement. To make this night a complete one though, there was really just one thing left for me to do: take to the dance floor and practice my best Ian Curtis dance with the fantastic DJ Sweetjayne on the decks. Success!
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