King Tuts, 28.04.11
There was one gig in particular last month that I do not want to go without mentioning.
People, Places, Maps, the Dumfermline six-piece, whipped up so much excitement at their support slot for Polarsets that it would be rude not to whip up some excitement about them.
The boys released a free EP in May last year, which neither of their first two tracks of the set were from; I think this is just a testimony to the strength of their new material.
They opened up with Pyromaniac, with Ryan’s fiery vocals powerfully storming over the audience, then seamlessly, between a substantial amount of cheering and whooping from the audience, headed into I get so cold I get nervous.
Like all good bands that you can bop along to, their upbeat tempo and sing-a-long lyrics work so well together, as do the band; togetherness is an attribute that is not highly praised enough.
However, don’t let these boys fool you; they may masquerade in the pop-ier side of the rock and folk scene, but their storytelling capabilities are far beyond the chart-tastic lyrics of modern pop music.
Going from their newer tracks, into the first song off of their free EP mentioned earlier, Plans received some serious crowd participation. It was also the first time that the band looked like they were relaxing into their set. Somewhere between being three songs in and having a crowd singing a song back to them, there was space for some smiles and ecstatic glances to be shot between the boys.
Maintaining the happy balance between the new and the old, the boys went straight back into their newer tracks, Bury your head, and In real life, which again show cased a happy progression and growth from their original EP.
Taking down the pace a bit for Hotel Room, another perfected pop number off their first EP, there was mutual enthusiasm from the band and the audience, meeting in the middle for the perfect crowd singing to band harmonising ratio.
Their penultimate song, Deconstruct the familiar again let the audience see where the band are going with their new material. Slightly more rocky and folky compared to the pop based material of their previous record, but clearly developing their skills for writing strong yet understated music and wonderfully engaging, story-telling lyrics.
It also gave them time to beam about their debut album. Being recorded primarily at Old Mill Recording Studios with Marshall Craigmyle, the boys had a lovely on stage debate about when it is going to be released (July or August, we’ll need to wait and see!) but it was lovely to see the sheer excitement they had about it. None of this ‘too cool for school’ business, just raw boy-ish exhilaration about something they’ve clearly worked exceptionally hard for.
The final lyric of their final song, Splinter I think just topped it off perfectly: “I’m not sitting there with that lot waiting for my chance to come.”
These boys clearly have enough excitement and enthusiasm to do exactly that.
They’re playing the Voodoo Rooms Edinburgh, 5th June, P.J. Mollys Dunfermline, 14th June supporting the La Fontaines, and The Flying Duck Glasgow, on the 18th June, so go along and check them out for yourself!
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