Brother and Bones

I rarely go to shows anymore but when I do they seem to be the right shows. Last night, despite feeling so ill leaving the house felt like a bad idea, I managed to stumble my dreary way into a night of audio charm. My other half had the sense to book tickets to the up and coming night at the Jazz Café in Camden, (£10 with a free drink? Of course I’m taking that every time). Hosted by Time Out, with the Unsigned Music Awards, the show put on four acts one that we were already aware of and as far as I’m concerned show stealers.

            Of course I’d be whole heartedly lying if I could say they stole the entire night, due to the fact I felt so rough by the time they’d finished that I left, but what an amazing performance from a band that is considered ‘folk’ by the geniuses at Spotify, (not that folk music can’t be amazing in its own right). They were introduced as a Rock band on the night and I’d be lying if I didn’t feel a little beyond my years when I say rock they certainly did.  To my surprise they didn’t play the folksier of their tunes but the heavier rock orientated songs that had a power that I would compare to Biffy Clyro.

Brother and Bones have a magnificent way of transitioning between verses, that are reminiscent of mellow alternative and then bursting from well-placed bridges into choruses with sheer effortlessness. The arrangement of their songs has me believing that they were in bands of heavier climbs in the past, fearlessly placing choruses as early or as late in a song as they please rather than keeping to a strict layout that most ‘popier’ music demands. Without a doubt their live show was waiting to explode but I think maybe there was a slight reluctance due to the size of the venue plus the audience. Although this reluctance seemed obvious, they simply couldn’t contain it towards the end of their set when they began to physically re-instate their appreciation for music visually.

The best thing about the performance was the tracks they selected to play. ‘For all we know’ is their most accessible and probably most popular song, but also from 2012. Although the song makes an appearance on their self-titled 2015 release, it was great to see a band that didn’t just play their most popular song instead of songs they enjoy, songs that represent them best as a band, songs that they want to be defined by: a rock band with guts. 

Without a doubt they were the right band to have later in the shows line up. With vocals that sounds pitch perfect when compared to the studio, guitar that screamed even more than their recordings and percussion that wasn’t afraid to go down the heavier route of rock, Brother and Bones are the band to see as much as possible before they become to big and you simply can’t afford the tickets.