What is it about the Principality that spawns such frankly odd bands? Adding to the eclectic list of Super Furry Animals and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Aberystwyth’s finest are more than deserving of a name check when considering the most fantastical of Welsh exports.
As they apologetically ambled on stage, lead singer Meilyr Jones appeared to make dressing down an art form. In fact, the first suggestions of retro were noticed upon the bands aesthetic style, and did indeed continue with the opening twang of guitar strings. However, Race Horses seem to possess a quality that many contemporary bands are missing - the ability to take hints from the past, whilst also maintaining a totally fresh and innovative sound. An astonishing hybrid of The La’s, Frank Zappa and The Sparks, Race Horses are able to lull you in with precious ohh and ahh harmonies, and then proceed to rip your face off with blistering and anthemic chords. A fortress of electric organs and impossibly antique synthesisers helped to further their antiquated sound by punctuating the set with Doors-style quivering keys.
After a ferociously energetic set (one song in particular, Scooter, mimicked the same sense of mayhem as the early Libertines sound), the audience were left in a whirl of ear-piercing feedback.
Although Race Horses may be one of the only hard-to-follow support bands currently on the scene, The Young Knives match was not quite met. Shuffling out in immaculately tailored suits and blasting the ever-recognisable bass intro to She’s Attracted To, it soon became clear that although the Knives have been absent from the live scene of late, they certainly haven’t forgotten how to please a crowd.
With more first album gold (including Loughborough Suicide, The Decision and the soaked in nostalgia Weekends And Bleak Days) came witty observations and self-directed insults. Pausing in-between songs to deliver hilarious reactions to friendly heckling (Audience Member: “Where have you been for the last year?!” House Of Lords: “Oh you know, just putting some shelves up”) it was obvious that the besuited three needed no time to readjust to live performance.
The set also provided an opportunity to showcase material from the much-anticipated third album, and luckily for us the Ashby de la Zouch natives have not ventured too far from the punchy, bass-driven style we have come to love. Rich in stinging chords and a conversational approach to vocal delivery, the newest offerings remain true to the traditional ’Knives style, whilst also displaying an obvious experimentation of tempo and harmonisation. More sensitive their new sound may be, but rest assured your hairstyle will not remain intact by the time the chorus comes around.
A more ideal finale could not have been conceived when the mighty Terra Firma saturated the atmosphere of the venue it all it’s stompy, chant-along glory. This icing on the cake (the cake being a comeback of gargantuan proportions) showed that when it comes to rattling the bones of everyone present whilst clad in Harris Tweed, The Young Knives have very much ‘still got it’. And in fact, despite a year-long absence from live performance, I don’t believe ‘it’ ever left them.
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