Still soaring from being one of only a handful of Northern Irish acts chosen to play Glastonbury 2011, Rams’ Pocket Radio play a homecoming gig of sorts at Belfast’s Animal Disco night. YouTubes of the band’s Glastonbury performance have been passed around excitedly and the venue is rammed, a sense of expectation in the air. The band are supposed to start at midnight and it creeps further past the hour, the amassed crowd getting sweatier and more restless. Finally the band take to the stage, relishing their entrance like prizefighters and getting down to the business of piano-rock. It’s a full-band set up, the piano acting as the crux that brings everything together. Peter McCauley’s piano-playing is at the next level, elevating an otherwise simple band set up and filling what could be musical voids with creativity. The piano underpins everything, delicately soloing at quiet bits and crashing with power at the emotional climaxes of songs. Melodies range from the deceptively simple to the breathtakingly complex, the band embracing delicate moments just as much as theatrical ones, juxtaposing the two in quick succession to great effect.
The pace doesn’t let up for the first three songs, made more intense by the oppressive summer heat. The audience don’t get a chance to catch their breath until the fourth song ‘Love Is A Bitter Thing’, an ode to loss, the hiss and crash of the cymbals accentuating the feeling of high drama. In fact, the drumkit as a whole brings a real gravitas to the songs, making them one part medieval dirge, another part soldier’s military march.
There’s an edge to McCauley’s voice that wouldn’t be out of place in an emo band, the anguish that makes you think the singer really feels what they’re saying. An almost Americanised way of pleading, getting the audience to listen and believe.
They finish with ‘Dieter Rams Has Got The Pocket Radio’, an older song from their repertoire but still their clarion call, the audience-uniting moment with enough melody to be pop but enough heaviness to be more than just that. Finishing suddenly, the band depart after what seems an oddly short set, leaving the audience wondering what will be next for a band that have seemingly outgrown their surroundings?