The Good Natured + Spark @ Rugby Library, 8th March 2011
One decent night out in Rugby is rare, but two in the space of a week is almost too good to be true. Get It Loud In Libraries is a unique initiative that aims to keep libraries on the map by making use of library spaces and making connections between music and literature that otherwise would be ignored.
In these current parlous times community centres such as these are very much in the firing line so it was great to see the double header of Spark and The Good Natured follow quickly on the heels of the precedent set by British Sea Power a few days earlier at Rugby Library.
It must a weird experience for the bands, playing in rooms where silence is normally the standard, surrounded by rows of books and with the crowd funnelled between the stacks to the front of the stage. The organisation was also a bit haphazard with half the audience already milling around the sports section whilst Spark was still going through a sound check.
Tonight it was the turn of The Good Natured to “headline” in the double header so it was Spark on first. Everyone seemed a bit awkward and if the strange surroundings had one marked effect is was to make the audience members self conscious so that when Spark took to the stage they stood way back from the band and only a huge amount of prompting persuaded anyone to step forward.
It was difficult to know what to expect. Spark is a relative newcomer and the subject of various showcases such as the HMV Next Big Thing and the Shockwaves NME Awards so the eighteen year old and her band are being pushed to the forefront by someone!. On this showing though one thing became very clear; all the potential is in Spark herself with intense electro pop tunes like Crave and Revolving allowing her to be the focus of attention both vocally and in terms of the moves on stage. She is visually striking, petite but with dark hair and dark eyes, and highly confident, which was a good thing on the night given the low reaction in the crowd.
One problem was that her band did little at times but drown out her vocal, as the overbearing electronic elements got lost and distorted amongst the stacks. Sadly the guy on the mixing desk did little to improve things. She would have been better off singing to a backing track!
In the usual manner of the showcase she was of the stage after a handful of songs to be replaced by another visually striking lady, Sarah McIntosh. Whereas Spark gave the impression of fighting her backing, The Good Natured came across as a more polished band with live bass and drums laid over pre-recorded loops and tracks. Their music is more sombre, with almost Indie overtones, and the way in which the backing tracks and the live elements combined gave the vocal a lot more space. Or maybe the different guy on the mixing desk had sussed out the peculiar acoustics in the library. The recent single Be My Animal stood out as Sarah McIntosh overcame the reticent audience by getting off the stage and singing and dancing amongst them.
As they were warming up for a marathon stint at SXSW in Austin, Texas we could have expected longer set but again it was the showcase effect and they finished again after only a handful of songs. I would have liked more. Prisoner and Your Body is A Machine are excellent songs and I was happy to find this stripped down acoustic version on the net whilst putting this review together. You don’t need all the the electronics in the world to put over a good song. I would like to have seen Spark in an acoustic setting. I think we would have seen what she is really all about.
All in all a really enjoyable, if short, gig.
Review – Ian Gelling
Photos – Steph College