Review: The Phantom Band, Found, Mount Fabric @ Sound Control, Manchester

Date: 10th March 2011

Reviewed by: Ross Baker

Crawling from the sprawling scene which spawned the likes of Mogwai, Glasgow’s The Phantom Band brought their experimental indie rock to an excited audience. But before that, we got to enjoy Manchester’s Mount Fabric and fellow Scots Found.

Mount Fabric play dynamic indie rock which features the soaring falsetto of Alex Marczak. Songs like “Coping With Belief” and “Big Plans” got a polite response from the early birds present but those who failed to make it till later missed a soulful and convincing performance from a band we should be seeing a hell of a lot more from.

Following Mount Fabric’s majestic display, Found’s performance was distinctly hit and miss. Their electro-tinged indie started throbbing and pulsing but took a dip in quality during the middle of their set. Jangly harmonies and guitar lines became somewhat forgettable with a couple of songs bleeding into one another. When their quirkier numbers like highlight “Johnny I Can’t Walk The Line” with its catchy chorus are unveiled they are flying, but too much of the set lacks charm and descends into mediocrity.

When the headliners took to the stage fifteen minutes later than advertised, the audience was climbing the walls with anticipation. The Celtic sextet was certainly an intoxicating proposition. Acid folk melodies meshed with electronic bleeps as these bearded Scots threw out numbers from both their albums to an enthusiastic response from the audience. Indeed the reception that “Folksong Oblivion” was given would make you think that it was a chart topping hit.

The pulsing melodicas and wooden percussion block sounds made you want to stamp your feet and lose yourself within their strange little world and the sinister undertone to the lyrics was pure Nick Cave venom in Flaming Lips clothing. When they slowed the pace down on the touching “Island” they were equally as affecting. Rick Anthony’s voice was vulnerable and moving against a backdrop of shimmering guitars and the multilayered pomp of “Everybody Knows It’s True” got the audience swaying in time to its heady rhythm.

They exited the stage to whoops and hollers of the capacity crowd knowing their work was done. It won’t be long before their haunting melodies are manifesting themselves in a larger venue very soon.