Owls
Fists are a band who have never gigged enough for my liking. It's been ten months since they last played in the city, but they returned to the Nottingham stage at The Maze.
Stripped down to a four-piece since the release of their debut LP Phantasm last year, they have reappeared from their self-imposed exile more taut than ever. If early reviews had the band tagged as ‘ramshackle’, now they are anything but. Perhaps this has been brought on by losing a guitarist meaning the band have had to re-focus, but they sound sharper than ever - and this is coming from someone who has seen this band live more times than I can actually remember.
Go still sounds like it has deliriously thrown itself down a flight of stairs; Flaneur is even more heavily frazzled than its recorded counterpart; and even though James still can’t grasp the intro to Ascending, when it finally takes flight it’s a wonderful reminder of what great supercharged rock n’ roll songs Fists write. If only we got to hear the band play them more often.
I’ve always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with the numerous and varied output of Tim and Mike Kinsella (Joan of Arc, Cap’n Jazz, Owen and on and on...). I will always hold the American Football record close to my heart, but much of their music can feel like it was made by emotionally stunted men for emotionally stunted men.
Fortunately Owls don’t show any of that tonight. Back with a new album, Two, their first since 2001’s self-titled effort, the band are determined to make something of this dreary Monday evening. Playing a set that is evenly spread between their two albums, the energy the members showed in their early days as Cap’n Jazz is transformed in to something more malleable with Owls, which in my opinion has always made them a more rewarding listen.
The jagged, every-so slightly mathy rhythms, the interlocking grooves, and twisting guitars are all laid down with an obvious determination and it’s clear from the start that the band mean every note that they play and sing, and that passion is infectious - just ask the fan boys down the front who are transfixed from start to finish. To be honest, Owls aren't really a band you would immediately think of having a groove, but tonight the riffs sound rugged and fluid in their heavy repetition. Although a drunken side-track in to funk-metal parody does kill the mood somewhat.
The bands of Mike and Tim laid down the foundations for some terrible musical crimes committed by others, but you feel that by bringing Owls back they are trying to make amends. This is emotional guitar music that doesn’t wet its own bed.
Owls and Fists played at The Maze on Monday 15 September 2014.
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