To My Boy - London Barfly @ Monarch - 11/2/07
4/5
By: Charlie Potter
My motivations for going to this show (apart from being able to get in for free, naturally) were predominately born of yearning. I had learned that To My Boy's upcoming debut album was to be produced by an ex-member of the magnificent Clor. Having thought that Clor managed to release one of the best albums of 2005, and having never gotten round to seeing them live, I decided to check this To My Boy band out to see if there was any glimmer of the magic that Clor left behind. On listening to the tracks on their conveniently well decked out MySpace account, I was pleased to hear that the band did indeed share a bit of that Clor sound - the jolly beeps, the tales of romance, the playful Devo-esque vintage synth fun... However, on the night, the band also showed many welcome similarities to the likes of Maximo Park, with those jutting, angular guitar melodies, and empowered, energetic vocals.
The set had its highs and lows, but more of the former than of the latter. The first couple of songs had everyone grinning from ear to ear, and the sheer fun of the sound was given more through the benefit of not having a drummer - there's nothing quite like seeing two grown men stamping around a stage with guitars, no drumkit in sight. I was enjoying the set to the extent that I went into a dream world, thinking of how nice it was going to be to see them again at our Basement night, and how good it was going to be to see this band rise to stardom, but by the time I came back down to earth I found myself in the middle of a track which I wasn't particularly keen on, a noise which burst that bubble somewhat. There was a slight lack of diversity to their sound at times due to the repetitive nature of their songs. I'm all for drum machines and samplers (especially Rolland 404's which had me quite excited), but I don't understand why people are so unadventurous when it comes to programming the machines?
When this band were at their best, they'd gone to great lengths to layer up the rhythms so the various machines and guitars had worked off of each other to create the perfect platform to sing over. This would have been a lot more satisfying with a more sympathetic sound man - the drum machine and synths were treated as peripheral elements to the music, although in truth they were the driving force and rhythm of the sound.
The band finished with an absolutely incredible rendition of what is to my mind their best song, 'The Grid'. The only thing they needed to do to bring this excitement out a little more was to play a bit faster and grit their teeth a little harder, as its when they seem most lost in their music that their intriguing sci-fi obsessed computer love aesthetic shines forth and makes you realise what a fantastic band they really are.
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