Chapel Club at Audio (Brighton) 08.02.10

After a hectic weekend, a gig on a Monday night can be just the thing to take the edge off of the four more days of work looming ahead. If your definition of a hectic weekend included the increasingly popular past time of feeding plants and making cat noises then Monday night wouldn't have been the place for you.

The Hornblower Brothers provided a much needed beam of sunshine on a day that had already seen a flurry of unwanted flakes drifting down from the sky. Their jaunty indie and amusing subject matter helped to compensate for the missing seratonin. All five of the lads dropping their instruments midway through a cheery number to sing unaccompanied and without microphones was an intriguing way to steal attention from the bar and turn heads towards the stage. A whole evening of this 'jazz/tropical/punk' (myspace) might have been enough to shake off the dreary weather and Monday blues but they were merely the first of four bands on the bill.

Munich weren't having any of that feel good lark though. This band have nailed their name, the city is synonymous with a dreary, dark feeling that these guys create. Somberly clothed and wrapped in scarves, their movement is confined only to that which is necessary to create a wall of sound. Firmly shutting out any light let in by the first band and chasing out the generated warmth, they set the evening's true theme of noise, darkness and depression.



Local band, Lyrebirds raise the stakes on Munich by taking their style and running with it. They add a stronger lead vocal to the Editors/Interpol school of doom pop and a greater degree of intricacy setting them slightly apart from the bands either side of them on the roster. Their music is at once fast and slow, the lyrics stretched and dragged over the top of furious riffs and frantic drums but matched by the sliding synths and wailing solos. Their front man wins the coveted but easily achievable title of 'most charismatic', with a few jabbing fingers and raised arms whilst the rest of the band inspect their battered Chelsea Boots. Visual performances are not high on tonight's agenda.

Final act, Chapel Club haven't been left far to go in this genre. More sharply dressed, motionless men carving out giant arcs of noise from the stack. 'O Maybe I' stands out as the latest single but amidst so much similarity on the bill the rest of the set is just more of the same. They've certainly got a future and alongside a different act would cause more of a stir but tonight wasn't quite their night. Three out of four of the bands choosing not to interact with the audience is an unusual occurrence, especially when it could have generated the distinction that they so badly needed.

Thanks to Mike at The Recommender for the cool photos.

No links to Spotify today as none of their tracks are on there but head over to The Recommender to download a Lyrebirds track.

The Hornblower Brothers - Android With A Heart on Spotify.