IBH Played Live(ish) at Village Underground, London on Thursday 23/01/13. Evening Standard review is...

HERE (surrounded by adverts for War Horse!)

I went to this and I’d probably agree with the three stars in that review. The set up was: synths, and more synths (some live, some not), Drums (some live, some not) lead vocals (some live, some not!!) and a backing vocalist whose voice didn’t always gel with Maria’s. No guitars, so no room for ten minute jam versions of I Kill Your Love or other guitar based tracks from album 1. However, we did at least get three songs from Hearts which I was excited about.

The Standard’s critic mentioned there were on-stage sound issues; I’d suggest there were off-stage sound issues too. Specifically regarding the vocals. All 11 tracks from the gig have been uploaded to Youtube so have a listen. Maria’s recorded vocals were clearly used in the mix on a lot of the tracks – but instead of backing her live vocals, they tended to drown them out. Opening song Medicine Brush sounded suspiciously non-live in a lot of places. Meanwhile Denial starts with a weak live vocal from Maria but as the song continues, the recorded vocal comes to the fore so that by 2.50 on the youtube clip “den-i-a-al” is a pre-recorded stutter. A couple of people in front of me look at each other as if to say “that’s not live singing”. The vocals that Maria bothers to sing on Hearts are really low in the mix, but mostly it’s played as an instrumental.

Its not all bad though, I was pleased that Heart To Know got an airing, albeit in truncated form, like the version on the BBC radio session, and Load Your Eyes was a real thrill to hear live, even though the backing singer seems to be doing more of the singing than Maria. No room for Disclosure though; I guess they don’t agree with me that it has ‘single’ written all over it.

I have to say that I like Faith more now that I’ve heard it blasting out of really loud speakers, Maria said it “goes well with some dancing”, and it’s probably the one tune where my feet started to move. The Standard’s critic suggested the crowd was subdued, but what did he expect? It was never going to be a gig where people throw their pints in the air and go apeshit, especially as the majority of these songs were new and unknown to the crowd.

Last track (and a highlight), Winter Beats was preceded by a genuine invite from Maria (you can hear it on the Youtube clip) to go back to their hotel; “we will have fun and play some very very good songs”. I’ve been to my fair share of gigs but never heard that before. Well my friend who I had dragged along had left by the encores and it was a work night, so I didn’t feel like going along on my own, but I’d love to know what they did – were they dj-ing, or gathered around a piano doing cover versions? If anyone knows, please tell me! (If they played more songs from Hearts I’ll be sick as a parrot.)

Incidentally support act Bernard and Edith were worth a listen (“We’re from Manchester and we’re nervous”). They didn’t come across as being quite as weird as they do on their Soundcloud page, but I liked their quirkiness anyway.

Overall I’m glad I went, and at £11 including fees, it’s one of the cheapest gigs I’ve been to in some time.

Setlist (in correct order, unlike Setlist.FM): Medicine Brush, Berceuse, Hearts, Denial, Load Your Eyes, You Burn, Hearts To Know, Weigh True Words, Faith. Encore: Ascension & Winter Beats.

Thanks for the updates everyone.

My favourite tracks are still Denial by a mile, Faith, You Burn and the ones not released as singles I liked were Weigh True Words and Heart to Know. Inspired by Twin Peaks makes sense.

It was really interesting to hear she tried to refrain herself from experimenting too much like the last album (maybe she disciplined herself too much) Would've loved to heard what it'd sound like if she didn't but if meant her losing her sanity and the record label breathing down her neck to finish then that can be a different story.

Couldn't find a physical copy of this anywhere in my city. One store said potentially next week but wasn't sure. So gave up and got it from iTunes. Happy to invest money in acts like this that have potential.

I'm testing Nokia Mix Radio on my Lumia 1020 for two weeks now, and in the "Ffavorites"-list i got the following:

• Air
• Beastie Boys
• The Chemical Brothers
• Deftones
• Fatboy Slim
• Feist
• Fun Lovin' Criminals
• Goldfrapp
• Kid Loco
• Kyuss
• Life Of Agony
• Massive Attack
• MNDR
• Monster Magnet
• Portishead
• Public Enemy
• The Prodigy
• Sepultura
• Sick Of It All
• St. Vincent
• Uffie

Thing is, with this list of "favorites" Nokia Mix Radio plays me I Break Horses 5 times in the past two weeks. Just saying.

I'm going to see I Break Horses on May 3!

First time seeing them, and first concert in what feels like an eternity.

Should be a well spent $15.00. :D

If any of our members live in/around NYC...
Former Cocteau Twin, Simon Raymonde is DJ-ing at Rough Trade records NYC tomorrow as part of Record Store Day.
He is also of course head honcho of the Bella Union label, and his signings IBH play there tonight.
LINK 1
LINK 2

Quick review on the road... I saw I Break Horses last night. It was a rather quick show, but very good and the crowd were friendly and chill. Mad props to the one guy in shorts and plaid shirt, stage facing left, who was going nuts. :D

Maria is so beautiful! From the Medicine Brush to Winter Beats - Her ethereal voice, gentle presence, and humility were so endearing. There seemed to be a slight stage calamity at one point which she apologized for but I would not have noticed to be honest. The drummer was great, too.

Hearts is definitely a crowd pleaser (referred to as an 'old' song, haha). ;-)

A good time. I seriously love I Break Horses. <3

IBH spotting: Load Your Eyes over a goal montage at the end of tonight's Match Of The Day 2. I was a little surprised.

View on Vimeo.

While I'm here, it seems IBH have done a new remix for Susanne Sundfor.
https://soundcloud.com/susannesundfor/delirious-i-break-horses-remix-1/s-hTkOC

Article here

And they did a tweet about ten days ago suggesting...new material? A third album would either win me back or...lose me. Oh, and it looks as though a member of this forum favourited the tweet!

https://twitter.com/...715100917432320

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