Live Review: Crystal Fighters @ The Ruby Lounge

Date: 18.03.11

Reviewed by: Miz DeShannon

Crystal this, Crystal that, and Crystal the other. There seems to be a Crystal everything as a band name these days. Having seen the ones in question here - namely the Crystal Fighters - on a Jools Holland show some time ago, they'd had a couple of girls sat around as a 'wood nymphs'. And on top of that oddity, recordings I'd heard seemed to feel a bit flat and drab in comparison to people's seemingly unbounded enthusiasm for them. So, some winning over was required with this gig.

One of the band's backing singers has some family history in the Basque area of Spain, so the London based hipsters have built on this influence with a plethora of unusual instruments, as well as a lot of lyrical ornamentation from Sebastian (Pringle), lead vocalist and cult-leader-in-the-making. There was a definite air of spirituality at this gig; a cross between the early 90s rave years and something you'd find in an American mid-west sect. Not necessarily inventive, but an unusual vibe from a live act for sure.

With album Star Of Love out now, the venue was packed with punters as eclectic as the music itself, who've embraced Crystal Fighters' mix of styles and sounds, which on paper would sound dreadfully disparate and disorganised, but in reality made for a pretty great live show.

The rave element of their music really came through by the end of the night, with song after song of throbbing electronic dance music laced with folk-driven percussion-offs and twee female vocals. Gilbert (guitar) has been quoted as being fascinated with a 'genre-less future', and the band certainly seem to be on track for that end aim; songs like 'Champion Sound' full of thumping drums and chanting vocals synonymous with both of the predominant styles the band's music incorporates. Radio 1 favourite 'In The Summer', their single from last year, and 2009 single 'I Love London' were in the set as well.

They're definitely more of a live band than a listen-at-home band; their energy and reactions to the crowd really make their performance. Ad lib rants can't be recreated too well in the studio, however hard they may try.

I'm yet to figure out how they're going to break records through selling records, but they should definitely be on your list of must-see acts on the festival circuit this year. Even without a head full of sunny daydreams or whatever happens in the English fields in summer, the gig was utterly enjoyable.

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