Sometimes there can be no rhyme or reason for liking a band. The term indie dance would normally send me running a mile, but The Sunshine Underground have an infectious quality that prevents me doing so. But I’m not sure this quality stretches as far as some of their newer material – containing neither rhyme nor reason.
It was songs from their debut album Raise The Alarm that raised the roof, although they kept these to a minimum, playing only four.
Commercial Breakdown, Put You In Your Place and Borders all rang out like forgotten classics. The latter adopted a ballad-like intro that delayed the entry of the drums until the second verse.
The other two-thirds of their set were dedicated to premiering a new album, with a metronomic kick drum providing the linchpin for some echo-masked wailing that singer Craig Wellington found hard to maintain.
You can hear where the band have become ambitious in their song writing and they are successful in places, but they lacked the hooks that drew me to them initially.
When the audience chanted for “just one more song”, perhaps what they really wanted was another one of those classics.
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