GIG REVIEWS

Broadcast
@ Leeds Cockpit
07.12.03
www.vanguard-online.co.uk

 Bitter shards of broken sound match slashes of light as the pulse of Pendulum starts. Long black hair in a dead straight fringe sways as Trish Keenan warms up to her vocal. Splashed across the band and backdrop is an ever changing blend of movies. The Cockpit's Rocket bar was packed on this Sunday night and anticipation was high. Broadcast inspire high expectations with their blend of art-rock and rinky-tinky cool lounge melodies.

They had the art thing right with two film projectors projecting on top of each other; slight differentials in speed continuously producing new effects. And sonically, things were just-so - bop-along smooth songs met with crunching and glittering electronic sounds. Obviously, this is a band that has their act worked down pat but I was thrilled to hear them let go a few times and stretch out into exploration. Those were the times I could hear the skill in the otherwise too-good-to-notice team of drums and bass guitar. Rhythms elided and shifted, blending from one pattern to another and all accompanied by the swinging hair.

The band were looking good - stood with their shadows grooving across the movie screening of chemistry symbols, corpuscles, space and light. They were sounding good too - a cracked music box, churning out pop melodies but in fractured ways, relapsing to sheets of raw noise whilst the handle was wound for the next clockwork song.

This was a concert of peardrop lollipops, sweet and shiny with sharp tangy blasts of flavour. A swinging blart of colour and sugar-rush energy, impossibly cool.

Ross McGibbon