Saturday 7 May 2011

The Strange Death Of Liberal England @ The Cockpit

The Strange Death of Liberal England
TheCockpit (Room 3)
4th May 2011





The night began with support band Twin Planets asking people to make their way upstairs. I was curious to check them out but their attempt at post-punk failed and I just spent the set waiting for them to get good which unfortunately never materialised.

Shortly afterwards Portsmouth indie rockers, The Strange Death of Liberal England (TSDOLE) unassumingly took to the stage. Having gathered a cult following after releasing two albums in the past four years I was extremely surprised to see such an empty room, there was not more than thirty people there.

The few that were there were definitely treated to a fine show as TSDOLE mostly played songs from their critically acclaimed second album, Drown Your Heart Again. The influence of early material from the Pixies is fairly obvious as well as taking on a sound similar to bands like British Sea Power which seems to be proving popular at the moment.

While TSDOLE kept the crowd entertained one thing that impressed me was during their penultimate song, which also featured an accordion, the guitarist was managing to roll a cigarette with one hand while continuing to play. It is this sort of feat that impresses me rather than the pyrotechnics of a huge stadium show.

Overall TSDOLE provided a thoroughly entertaining evening and I hope they pick up some more fans along the way so they can continue releasing albums like Drown Your Heart Again which was one of the better records of last year.

Matt Hill

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