Cymbals Eat Guitars @ The Lexington, London. 12/11/09
After much eager fawning from the likes of Pitchfork and Drowned in Sound, tonight’s showcase of Cymbals Eat Guitars sees the sold-out Lexington bristling with sticky anticipation from the relatively diverse crowd. Well, it’s not really diverse as such, but to witness a gig by a hyped new band in London where the punters are made up equally of “real” people- you know, with actual jobs and stuff- as it is by horrible, scrawny little fuckers who are there with a part of their brain reserved for cynicism just in case said band actually turn out to be ridiculed months later….where am I…? Yes…the Lexington has a variety of different sorts tonight and it’s a bit refreshing. But not massively.
The Staten Island residents, Cymbals Eat Guitars, do not exactly strike an instant image of originality and aplomb with their part preppy/ part geekish attire and their slightly awkward American accents, but once they get into their stride they start to look a little more confident. With debut album (’Why There Are Mountains’) opener, ‘…And The Hazy Sea’ the band really begin to wrap themselves around their own sonic possibilities. The song bursts into action- all wailing vocals and rolling cannons of guitars- before the layers peel away to reveal a pretty little trickling tune which, in turn, paves the way for some nice “lalalala” vocals and, eventually, another section of noisy post-rock. It’s these kind of meanderings and tangents that are really indicative of the band’s sound and the gig tonight. With this song in particular, it’s not so much a nailing of the old tried and tested dynamic of “loud/quiet/loud/quiet”, but more of a “loud/quiet/softy/poppy/epic/tickly/loud again/pause for thought/even louder/quiet/loud/WhereAmI?” style reworking.
One thing that has the potentially paradoxical effect of gaining Cymbals Eat Guitars this initial wave of positive hype and, simultaneously, is likely to cause at least a smattering of dissent, is the multi-multiple angles of influence their music is drawn upon. This band can almost been seen as a neat A to Z catalogue of good alternative American rock bands present and recent. From the exuberance of Flaming Lips to the proud and grandiose climaxes of Arcade Fire via the wailing of Kevin Shields’ guitars, it’s all here.
However, for a band who so clearly and unashamedly display their influences like a boy scout proudly showing off his newly acquired cow milking badge (something of a scout holy grail I reckon), Cymbals Eat Guitars sound surprisingly fresh and vital. When they are flitting between doomy shoe-gaze and happy-go-lucky strolls down piano led pop lane, it somehow doesn’t grate or become a little too much. Such consistent chopping and changing of styles and influences are pulled off slickly because of the basic fact that this is a really talented band.
One of the set’s highlights- ‘Share’- for example, shows the band’s uncanny ability to fuse supposedly incompatible musical styles. After grinding slowly through the sludge of feedback and droning effects, the song breaks out on the other side like the sun finally revealing itself after weeks of fog. On the album, trumpets signify the start of the lazily glorious finale, but tonight singer/guitarist Joseph Ferocious suitably substitutes them for his slick guitar lines.
The band at times stop the momentum they create with awkward snippets of stage banter but, particularly as the gig gets older, they begin to grow in confidence and presence. They’re never going to own the charisma of Joe Strummer, but there is something slightly endearing about the way these shy, weedy Americans consistently throw themselves into each of their compositions.
Cymbals Eat Guitars are not quite there in terms of being a finished product yet, but that surely bodes will for their future. It’s rare for such a culture magpie of a band, who carefully pick through decades of music and don their shiny robe of influences, to sound quite so urgent and worth listening to. Since they’re already pushing very much in the right direction, with a little work and smoothing of those rough edges, Cymbals Eat Guitars look to be a majorly exciting prospect for the future.
http://www.myspace.com/cymbalseatguitars
P.s ‘Why There Are Mountains’ can be spotified right up.
Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains
