Funeral Suits @ Academy 2 Fri 29th April
The sun had disappeared for the first time in four days which ironically was also the first time I had stepped outside to enjoy it based on a stupidly busy week. And to top it all off, I had a bandaged ankle from a sporting injury which still may require medical attention, but these negative barriers were not going to stop me from getting to the first gig review I have done in some time. So I limped from GP studios in Stoneybatter all the way to the Academy for Funeral Suits – a promising Dublin outfit with a growing reputation and an increasingly realistic aspiration of success off the back of their reported debut album (yet to hit the shelves unfortunately) being produced by acclaimed producer Stephen Street of The Smiths and Blur fame. We are told it will be out at some stage this year.
I was equally excited about seeing the support act This Other Kingdom, a band that, despite the dodgy name, have gained great exposure in the mere months since their formation. The band were just taking the stage as I hobbled into the dingy basement of The Academy and took my position propped against the nearest pillar to watch the performance. My jaw line was fixed with a cringe for the next ten minutes as the band battled against feedback caused by the incredibly bad acoustics and a broken guitar that led to their lead guitarist borrowing a Funeral Suits instrument for the remainder of the show. The gig improved greatly after that, to a point where I began to feel sorry for the space the band were confined to as the busted out songs dowsed in anthemic yet distorted rock like Kasabian meets Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. With their stand out track and currently circulating demo ‘Sunlight’ providing moments of easy crowd inclusion, the chanting and singing gave this band promise for something bigger, if not just the stage.
After some fine tuning and extensive sound checking, Funeral Suits took the stage flaunting a more extravagant visual set up and after some great ambient electronica for their intro the broke into song, and I found myself tapping my feet. This has potential, I thought. That potential weaned as the gig continued as their sound became comparable to, as my friend so aptly described, a drop of ki-ora into an ocean filled with new wave electronic a-la MGMT or Empire of The Sun; it was simply too diluted. By song 5 it seemed apparent to me that they had used up all original material when they produced a riff that seemed all too similar to one plucked from a Beach House song. Now, maybe I am being a tad unfair, and this could be alternatively construed as a complimentary comparison to a great band, so take from it what you will. Nothing, however, excused the inexplicably over the top light show considering the venue, and it did a fine job of drowning out any stage presence the band may have had.
I may be slightly over-descriptive in my words and this could be misread into an entirely negative review, so let me finish with some words of encouragement.
Funeral Suits sit comfortably like a tetris piece between the aforementioned bands (Phoenix and the Temper Trap also spring to mind) and even if I feel they do not offer anything specific to stand out from that crowd, if you like the above type of music then there is a very high chance you will like Funeral Suits. I for one was hoping that they offered something more when it came to live performance, but I was let down by an uneasy and possibly over relaxed show that not only left little to the imagination, but was saturated in ridiculous neon lights.
For more check out Funeral Suits MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/thefuneralsuits
And This Other Kingdom’s Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/This-Other-Kingdom/123658440997718?ref=ts