Chairlift at 229 The Venue

Chairlift at 229 The Venue

03 December, 2008
by: Jayrock

The originally named 229 The Venue (situated at, you guessed it, number 229 Great Portland Street) has been touting itself as 'the venue' for just over a year. Attached to the International Students House and sporting a non-confrontational entrance, it doesn't strike me as somewhere the crowds would flock to check out the latest hip bands. Luckily enough, Club Fandango has added 229 to its stable of venues, meaning that it's regularly graced by the up and comers. Whilst it has a haunting feeling of being somewhere that you'd bump into people you'd erroneously slept with, it's a nice enough spot – a good size, a decent sound system and even benches to sit on if you're a lazy old bastard like me.

Tonight's crowd is an odd mix. Students, tourists and blah seeming smug twenty-somethings congregate awkwardly in front of the stage. It's hard to get any sense of what's in store.

Fortunately I manage to saunter in just in time for the second band on the bill. Rose Elinor Dougall (aka 'Rose who used to be in the Pipettes' or tonight as 'Rose and the Distractions') is trying her luck as a solo artist, having hung up her polka dot dress in April this year. She's a feisty looking little thing, exuding a youthful kind of attitude that would make her an ideal pub companion. Flanked by an aesthetically odd combination of three chaps on guitars and drums and a blonde girl who swaps between bass, keyboard and back-up vocals, Rose begins the set seated behind the keyboard. It's not the most impactful of openings – like Kate Nash without the abrasiveness, it all starts off sounding a bit wishy washy and lacking any substance. When she does take to her feet in the third song the improvement is marked – she unleashes her pretty, milky voice and begins to actually perform. Whilst overall I'm not blown away, it feels like this may be because it's young people in a young band, at the beginning of their journey. With her first single 'Another Version of Pop Song' out on the 8th of December and a dozen gigs lined up before the year is out, I suspect that things can only get better for them.

Next up is It Hugs Back, four blokes from Kent who have already received a notable amount of praise, despite having only been around a couple of years. They look, smell and sound grungy – with the hushed vocals and long hair to boot. At first listen, I have to admit that from song to song things seem to sound pretty similar. That said, it's a good sound - an endearing combination of summery shoegaze with sporadic explosions of hardcore noise (and maracas - gotta love those maracas). Everything feels very organic and you can almost see the progression from awesome 'jamming in garage' track to gig setlist. If you like them, you'll like them.

By the time the headliners Chairlift come on, the crowd has swelled to an impressive size. Chairlift are a three-piece from Brooklyn, whose claim to fame of late has been that they've supported MGMT, Yeasayer and Santogold and are about to support Vampire Weekend. Rubbish band name aside, as a MGMT fan I was expecting them to be pretty cool.

Leadsinger Caroline dominates the threesome, as most of their repertoire is based around her impassioned wailing. Part Niko, part Dido and also scarily occasionally sounding a bit like that bird from the Cranberries, I'm not sold. It's ambient, bohemian and a bit self-indulgent.  There are flashes of charm but these tend to come solely from the blokes who obviously know and love their instruments and aren't afraid to experiment. The more upbeat and cutesy ditty 'Bruises' is an improvement, but doesn't entirely win me over. If I was in the 'chill out' tent at a balmy festival I might be more enamoured but on a wintry Wednesday in December it's all a bit damp and translucent.

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Jayrock