NATIVE ALIEN + OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT - Doghouse, Dundee 20-04-08
This was the first time I'd seen Dundee's Native Alien. I'd reviewed thier new CD-EP a couple of weeks before so I thought I knew what to expect - which is how I nearly didn't do this review. You see, normally I'll hear a set and decide on an enjoyment factor of 1-10, whether or not to commit it to website, depending on how much of an impression it had made on me. The thing here was that the band turned in this gem of an opening track that I was so busy enjoying, it wasn't until they started on an even better second track, that I thought "I'm gonna have to review this gig in detail - I think it's gonna be superb" - and raced to the Doghouse bar to grab a pen so I could get something down in case I was right - and, guess what? Yep - I was right!!
By the second track the band were already turning in this mix of driving indie rock mixed with quality arranging, great guitar work and a singer who is just superb. That this second track came across as mix of Perth's Defended and the more dynamic parts of Dundee's Limber, infused with a stunner of a hok, solid harmonies and some red hot and meaty guitar work plus one seriously beefy beats, is a mark of just how good it was. BUt things kept getting better - traqck 3 started slower only somehow more powerful with huge slabs of electric guitar work, the vocalist proving just what a strong voice he has, again accompanied by some excellent vocal harmonies. Underpinned by solid work from the rhythm section with pounding bass and lurching drums, the sdong flows with force and majesty, really anthemic and uplifting as the rhythms prove seriously addictive, the arrangement structured but alive with some searing lead guitar as the icing on the cake - but that vocalist - welll.....just stunning.
The 4th track featured some powerful rhythm guitar work and a strong riffing undercurrent, propelled by more mid-paced but still strong rhythms, while the song itself is very hypnotic, as once again, the vocals lift it all off the ground as the harmonies and choruses make the song simply superb, a great song on the CD but so much stronger in a live setting. As a pure anthem the song twists an turns but never loses any of its direction, cohesion and conviction. For track 5, a psychedelic guitar lead introduces things as it leads into this big, stomping rhythm, the impassioned lead vocal soaring away on top. You might expect the song to erupt, but instead it stays within its structured arrangement, building into this faster beat which reminded me very much of the best Draymin material, with a huge expansive sound and even bigger choruses. It's a really solid, surging slice of indie-rock, featuring plenty of that red hot lead guitar work touched by a psychedelic edge, and just a stunner of a song.
Track 6 is faster paced and it just all copmes together so seemingly effortlessly and so well. A great song once again, another urgent delivery with hooks, verses and choruses sung to perfection, as the song and its arrangement prove utterly irresistible and totally addictive. Then they left - that they left you wanting more, a mark of just how hot a performance t5his had been. It's not doing the band down in any way to say that they're Dundee's answer to The Draymin and every bit as good as that comparison might suggest, and you really need to get out and see this band live in concert - you won't regret it!!
Up next, from London and recommended by Doghouse promotor Jonathan (who advised me to stick around to see them, and I'm glad he did!!), were Official Secrets Act. That the first track made you sit up and take notice when it was introduced by two drummers exploding into life was enough but when that was topped with a seventies-styled punk-esque hi-register vocal, the song surged into this treain-ride of a rhythm with spiky, twangy lead guitar work and boming bass, you were immediately hurled into something totally addictive as the drums-driven adrenaline rush featured vocals that just took off as the song progressed and intensified, very much late seventies/early eighties and very catchy, too. The second track this time used a synth line to fill the sound in avery sparing seventies inspired way as an urgent punk-esque anthem of a track drives forward with undercurrents of more solid drums and powerful bass. A seriously infectious chorus and football terrace verses roars into life with great harmonies while all the time, that solid thunderous surge of drums and bass is embellished by ringing synth and scything guitars as this huge sounding gem of a track drives through The Doghouse. Without a break, this segues into the sound of a buzzing synthpop organ sound before the drums crunch in, the muscular bass pounds away and the track dares you not to leap about wildly. Faster and catchier, the band is cooking as the vocals surge forward and the guitars power up, all as one heading to the inevitable chorus, whereupon the track ignites and the whole thing erupts.
As the set continues, and the second guitar comes more to the fore, the wild indie answer to Adam and The Ants is replaced by a kind of more powerful early Cure type sound, only with more guitar guts. The ever potent rhythmic hurricane drives on, the synth provides the wall of sound aqnd the set powers forward like an out of control train. From here the set then goes further into the eighties as a track with a slower intro develops a bouncy rhythm, chiming guitars and a more eerie crooned vocal, something akin, bizarre as it sounds, to a cross between Joy Division and Divine Comedy. In essence, a stuning band who play their set with dynamics in reverse, starting as hard as nails and ending more reflective, but they don't suffer from it by virtue of their sheer energy and enthusiasm allied to some great arrangements.