Deluka @ Hare & Hounds, 22nd December 2010
Your reviewer is duty bound to declare a positive bias towards Deluka in as much as having watched lead singer, Ellie, metamorph from an acoustic teenage kicker at The Songwriters’ Cafe, to damnably gifted, undoubtedly charismatic and disarmingly, the antithesis of chic rock chick just back from the Big Apple.
The H&H is bubbly full capacity eager to celebrate the band’s return after their previous scorching gig (see Feb review). The past months have seen them working themselves to near exhaustion in the States to great acclaim but still criminally blipping below the myopic radar of main stream recognition. Tonight’s set list drew on material from their debut album ‘You Are The Night’. Given their genre has been categorised as electronica/indie/punk you can draw what impressions you will but the stage dynamic bristles with subtle tension and brittle edge. But even more so it’s Ms Ellie who commands the stage. Her passioned presence and sculptured demure dominates, but never imposes, with a supercharged voice seemingly at odds with her slender frame. The band are honed to razor edge perfection that only incessant touring can bring about. Hence the H&H going a wee bit mental when the band eviscerate the synapses with the likes ‘OMFG’ and ‘Capital City’.
The encore exploded with a filthy kick-drum, cow-bell intro to the interrogative, visceral, ‘Sleep Is Impossible’ a right good Christmas uplifter with the refrain, ‘How’s your broken sleeping patterns/now you’ve fucked up mine?/I’m so tired and sleep is impossible now.’* But hey, people were dancing to it. They’re an odd sort at the H&H. A Christmas cracker of a gig. Sadly, space doesn’t permit me doing justice to either of the elegantly, enigmatically named support bands, Old School Tie/Battle For Prague whose names, let alone, saucily cool sets, have requisitioned my ‘bands to see again 2011’ hot list already.
Set list: Nevada, OMFG, Waves, Cascade, Your Name Is On My Lips, Morning Comes, Capital City, Sleep Is Impossible. * with thanks.
Review – John Kennedy
Photos – Ian Dunn