tnp2.jpg

These New Puritans, The Bodega Social, 15.02.2008

On paper These New Puritans have everything going for them. They’re the darlings of the broadsheet music press, loved by scenesters and their recently released debut album was met with a pretty much universal thumbs up. It’s the mix of mysterious, intelligent lyrics, catchy, lo-fi hooks and intriguing style which gives this band the big, juicy demographic label bosses salivate over.

Sadly, it seems like These New Puritans are already well aware of this fact and feel no need to put any effort in to their live shows outside of the capital. Their dated set list gave no credit to the flowing track order on ‘Beat Pyramid’ and ignored the band’s newer material. The songs that were lucky enough to make it on to the tiny playlist were not done justice by the quartet. Singer, Jack Barnett’s performance was completely lacking any kind of enthusiasm, it seemed that he thought turning up in the designer chain mail vest he’d worn in many of his recent photo shoots was enough to satisfy the audience. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t, and neither was the less than average sound quality.

A mere 25 minutes into a billed 45 minute set Barnett made a half hearted leap off the side of the stage and was slowly followed by his three band members while a strobe light pathetically flashed under the drum kit. Whatever the band’s intentions the audience was left bewildered and murmurings of ‘was that it?’ fluttered around the room and after a few minutes of waiting it was clear that it was. On paper These New Puritans may be one of the country’s most promising bands this year but with disappointing performances like this under their uber-hip belts it may not be long before their momentum grinds to a premature halt.

Despite that, ‘Beat Pyramid’ is still one of the most exciting albums so far this year so they’re still worth checking out.

Myspace

these_new_puritans-numerology_aka_numbers.mp3