Sad Day for Puppets - Leaf Cafe Bar, Liverpool, 20/4/2011

  by Richard Lewis

published: 23 / 4 / 2011

intro

Despite running nearly an hour late, Richard Lewls is impressed by Swedish group Jeniferever and local act the Wild Eyes' emotive post rock at a show at the Leaf Cafe Bar in Liverpool

A bill that comprises two bands whose shoegazer leanings find them well matched. The Wild Eyes’ opt for the more primal end of the spectrum. Boasting a sound that is far bigger than their three member line-up suggests, a rare sighting of girls dancing to guitar bands in the present day breaks out during ‘I Look Good On You’. Powered by a stuttering guitar riff, the gnarly ‘Sweet Teardrops’ amps up things up even further and is a snarling garage rocker that sounds like an escapee from the ‘Nuggets’ compilation. Closing with ‘Kosmos’, the gentle, ‘Gravity Grave’ era Verve bassline builds the track’s foundation before the arrival of a guitar part that alternately soothes and rips the track asunder. Operating at the more expansive end of scale, Jeniferever, resplendent in standard issue indie kid jeans and T shirts, summon up a sound that is far removed from their appearance. Arriving onstage almost an hour late, the group unhurriedly glide into their first track. Their rolling vistas of sound, clocking in at around five minutes each, show a band who could like Sigur Ros possibly break out of the indie bracket they currently inhabit. Aside from Radiohead (in past decades), Jeniferever are one of the few acts to employ three guitars. The tick-tocking arpeggios and meandering melody lines the axe wielding trio produce combine deliciously. ‘The Beat of Our Own Blood’ provides the set highlight, the Cure-esque swoon of the synths and the staccato bassline meshing seamlessly. The sparse melody lines of ‘Dover’ combine to provide another highpoint, whilst ‘Deception Pass’ sounds suspiciously like something that could be heard blaring from US rock stations, its thundering 30 Seconds to Mars trajectory guided by sidewinding guitar lines. Unfortunately I have to duck out of the gig early to run for the last train whilst the band is still in motion. Jeniferever have emotive post-rock down pat, even if their time-keeping leaves something to be desired. The photographs that accompany this article were taken by Marie Hazelwood http://mariehazelwood.tumblr.com.

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