A Silent Film / Alexander Wolfe

It was with some trepidation that on a wintery Thursday evening, I went along to basement venue, London's Metro Club, for one of A Silent Film's first headline gigs. I've been listening to album “The City That Sleeps” since its release date 3 weeks ago, and found it somewhat underwhelming after reading such good press about them. Others have made comparisons to Keane due to the strong part played by their piano, but I found the album more comparable to Coldplay, particularly the intro to 'Highest Regard'. Maybe it's that I am more into other styles of music, but it's always good to check out a new band, and I found myself pleasantly surprised. But onto that later.

Unfortunately, we arrived at the venue just a little too late to see The Tunics commence proceedings with their urban take on Rock n Roll, so we headed straight for the bar, before getting settled at the front to watch Alexander Wolfe.



Wolfe was joined on stage by bassist Peter Jackson, Terry Kirkbride on drums, and interestingly, on cello, the beautiful Rachel Dawson. Sadly, Wolfe's set was only short, and he took us through a number of melancholic and angst songs including 'Til Your Ship Comes In' and 'Song For The Dead'. Clearly frustrated with the audience whom insisted on chattering throughout his quieter songs, Wolfe asked for quiet a number of times. Luckily, at the front, we could hear clearly, and see close-up the emotion being poured out into the microphone. With a quick time-check, Wolfe closed his set with a heart-wrenching acoustic song that I'm annoyed that I cannot remember the name of. Seemingly happy, Wolfe left the stage to be welcomed by friends and family whom were waiting to congratulate him on his performance. I’m going to be looking out for Wolfe, and would recommend that anyone whom likes music of the Radiohead and Damien Rice ilk to go check him out.

The tiny stage was then quickly cleared to make way for A Silent Film, and their various props and instruments. For a four piece band, they had a lot of equipment, from lit up flight-case lids with their name displayed, to their own LED lighting boxes, and of course, their piano. I'd been intrigued as to how this would fit on the stage; but Robert Stevenson rolled out the tiniest piano I’ve ever seen, perhaps about 2/3 the size of a full size stand-up piano.



The main club lights were dimmed and the band's own LEDs took over the job, creating a dim, eerie, and mainly blue ambiance. The familiar glockenspiel-like chords of 'Sleeping Pills' was clearly known to the audience, and with the drums kicking in, I was blown back by the band’s sound. Loud would be an understatement, and whilst the album may be a little slow in places, their live set was a full blown rampage through their more energetic songs.

Regrettably, the levels seemed to be completely out on second song, 'Thirteen Times the Strength', and Stevenson's voice was barely audible over the band. With an extra monitor speaker being quickly brought to the front, and perhaps some adjustments on the mixer, the remainder of the evening was without technical issues. Stevenson wasn’t too phased by this, and bashed away at his piano with much fury; even tossing aside his stool at one point, standing hunched over the keyboard with sweat dripping from his forehead.

The adaptable flight-case lids they'd brought doubled up as drums, with Lewis Jones, tapping away on one during 'One Wrong Door', when he wasn't on his guitar duties.

But back to the audience again. It seemed they were not happy with just talking through Wolfe's earlier set, but were to continue chattering through the headline act's as well. However, with the loud PA, the band easily won the “who can make the most noise” competition, and Spencer Walker’s fast, pounding drumming on their cover of Underworld’s Born Slippy silenced the audience further.



Following their trademark crowd-pleaser, the band finished up with another powerful song, 'You Will Leave A Mark' from their latest album, before silently leaving the stage in single file and heading for the bar. Confusingly, this was the end. No encore, no interaction with the crowd, but an abrupt close to what had turned out to be a great gig.

From being not too fussed about them as a band, following their strong live performance, I'm planning to go and see them again on their home turf, at the Oxford Academy on 22 November.

Setlist:
Sleeping Pills
Thirteen Times the Strength
Six Feet of Rope and Revenge
Death From Above
One Wrong Door
White Dove
At the End of it All
Julie June
Born Slippy
You Will Leave a Mark

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.