ABC, Glasgow
Relentlessly propulsive, the Auckland five-piece deliver their trademark soaring vocals and synth bombast
Teen troubadour Lorde recently set a stratospheric benchmark for New Zealand artists seeking international success. But before Royals swallowed the world, Auckland's the Naked and Famous had achieved their own impressive market penetration. Three years ago, the synth-heavy five-piece (named for an early Tricky lyric) had their own inescapable hit – the much-covered Young Blood – and a fizzy debut album to back it up.
The band's current tour to support a second album, In Rolling Waves, got off to a fitful start, with two dates cancelled owing to illness. But in Glasgow, the sound is restored and almost overwhelmingly loud. The new record contains even more soaring uplift and keyboard bombast. These songs are big, echoey, parade balloons of bittersweet pop that would float away if not for the burdened vocals of Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith.
Two singers instead of one helps distinguish the Naked and Famous from their synth-rock peers. Powers sounds more world-weary than Xayalith, but he is not entirely without humour. After the vocodered, almost Mogwai-esque Grow Old, he acknowledges its oppressiveness: "Back to something positive," he deadpans, before launching into the propulsive All of This, a song with an addictive rhythmic glitch in the chorus.
Xayalith is sunnier, her outstretched arms a natural extension to her voice. She is also remarkably good at motivating the crowd, conducting singalongs and providing mid-song pep talks. When their voices come together on I Kill Giants, or the haunted, skittering Waltz, it showcases Naked and Famous at their most persuasive.
Every song sounds as if it is a hair-trigger's distance from heightened drama and feels, cumulatively, a little exhausting, but the audience seem to relish being put through the wringer. Even before the band gets a chance to play Young Blood, the audience gives them an ovation of such length and volume they look a little embarrassed. It is perhaps the only time they look unassured all night.
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by Graeme Virtue via Music: Electronic music | theguardian.com
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