Misty Miller and various support acts took to Camden’s Purple Turtle. Here’s the scoop:
Words: Marnie Wood
Opening the night at Purple Turtle, Camden, vaudeville-surf-rock act Dead Coast played to an unfortunately empty venue. All songs were a similar tempo but this provided a chilled atmosphere to begin the evening. The singer had a soft yet husky rockabilly tone to accompany his Kurt Cobain fringe. Beatles-esque simple lyrics drooled from the singer with ease and the band were musically tight, yet the lack of on-stage group interaction was disappointing and the whole act was too reminiscent of 2010s grunge surf bands WAVVES and FIDLAR (the band even played to a skate video background) to provide much intrigue. However, in one song a synth element picked out the guitar melody, creating an interesting contrapuntal melodic vibe that I would have liked to hear more of.
Second act Listening Party built a barrier between themselves and the audience in the form of a wall of guitar. The singer had a melodic voice but was unable to stray much from a short-range and any high vocals became shouty. The lead guitarist played some sweet licks but ultimately the heavy guitars of his bandmates quashed these. The lyrical content of each song began to create intrigue before sinking into repetition. The crowd slowly began to increase at this point and the final song ‘Morning’ got a few members dancing.
The Din were the third act to grace the stage with their contagious flamenco-funk. The act comprised of an acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, trumpet and drummer; creating a truly original sound. The band hyped up the crowd with their enthusiasm, smiles and on-stage interaction. The frontman reminded me of Joseph in his Technicolour Dreamcoat with a peaceful hippy vibe, yet the tunes were far more than your average hymn with syncopated beats and cross-rhythms encouraging at least half the audience to really go for it in the dance department. The act was memorable and had great showmanship and you should check them out here.
Headline act Misty Miller has quite a following on Facebook… over 12000 likes! So it was surprising to see the venue so empty on a Friday night. With Patti Smith-style vocals and scruffy Doc Martens, Miller clearly strives to channel the vibe of the old school riot girl yet her ‘I wanna be your girlfriend’ lyrics were more reminiscent of Avril Lavigne and her moody demeanour didn’t make for a particularly likeable stage presence. The simple lyrics were effective at some points but I felt the lines between punchy unpretentious effectiveness and trivialisation were becoming blurred. Her vocal style was refreshing in that it didn’t follow current cultural trends of saccharine, paper-thin wispiness yet the yodelling was too persistent and it would be nice to hear more vocal experimentation in the form of contrasts. The band backing Miller were tight but unfortunately, the levels were bad, meaning it sometimes overwhelmed the singer. Fewer people danced for this headliner than the previous act and the atmosphere became less free and jovial after four rants from Miller about men.
Overall the night was a success: free entry, cheap drinks, dancing and a nice mix of genres gave the evening something for everyone. Get down to a local gig now and judge some aspiring acts for yourself…
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