Silver Sun - London Carling Academy Islington - 14/9/06
4/5
By: Matt Tomiak
'You're going to see Silver Sun?! Better remember to return the rose-tinted spectacles they'll be giving out at the door...'
Contemptuous words indeed. And yet also tragically, predictably ill-informed. Revealing to your peers an intention to see Silver Sun in concert does not automatically command respect and admiration. But it chuffin' well ought to.
Earlier this summer, your correspondent boldly announced to the Rockfeedback / Transgressive Records Office that Silver Sun's debut album was the most unfairly neglected record of our generation. To reiterate - the London quartet shone briefly but brightly in the muddled post-Britpop aftermath that was late 90s UK indie, infrequently grazing the top 30 around this period. However, they succeeded over the course of two studio albums (1997's eponymous debut and 98's 'Neo Waves') to consistently marry heaven-sent Beach Boys harmonies to the immaculate power-pop clout of vintage Ash and The Lemonheads. Quite simply, Silver Sun made the first Weezer album sound like 'Kid A.'
Tonight's tiny comeback show has, inevitably, something of a twenty-something nostalgia night. Although an un-trumpeted third LP 'Disappear Here' surfaced last year after a prolonged period of inactivity- and a fourth, 'Dad's Weird Dream', due out later in 2006 - this evening's audience can quite patently recall Silver Sun from the first time around.
Opening double-header 'Scared' and 'Last Day' still burst with the pristine guitar hooks; bespectacled singer James Broad - somewhat less hirsute than in the band's pomp - nevertheless still exudes a self-deprecating, geography teacher style geekiness. 'They just keep on coming!!' declares Broad, acknowledging the almost absurdly Ramones-ian conveyer belt nature of their back catalogue, before launching into the swooning 'Service.' Indeed, that the pace of the show is reduced but once -during the reflective 'Sharks'- might lead detractors to accuse Silver Sun of being mere one (Cheap?) trick ponies. But with minor classics 'Lava' and 'Golden Skin' as gleefully received in the show's home-straight 'fast rock' section along with newies like 'Fallen' demonstrating Broad's almost uncanny propensity for producing sheer pop brilliance, it'd be a ill-natured gripe indeed.
They finish with their biggest hit 'I'll See You Around', a track which neatly epitomizes the band. Three and a half minutes of the finest, most radiant pop punk committed to record in the last decade: it spent just two weeks at number 26 in the charts eight years ago. Silver Sun might remain one of UK indie's best-kept secrets and also, in all probability, a reminder of what could have been - but also offer a tantalizing glimpse of and what might yet be...
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