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End of the Road: Saturday: Mercury Rev / Low / British Sea Power / Bon Iver / Pete & The Pirates / Seabear / Screaming Tea Party / Bowerbirds / Absentee and more
Dorset, Larmer Tree Gardens
Article written by
Various Writers - Oct 1, 2008
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Dan Michaelson, Absentee
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We were all worshipping the sun like some Polyphonic Spree cult on Saturday morning but still found time to visit the "Countryman’s Store" in Blandford to score some gentleman’s wellingtons. Even with the glistening mud, the site looked splendid in the sunshine, the peacocks cavorting, making it perfect to start the day in front of the main stage for Absentee. Dan Michaelson’s looking quite the roué, which is a look that suits him and his music. As first up on the mainstage, they blow the sleep out of the crowd’s eyes with the magnificent ‘Bitchstealer’, then get slow and romantic followed by arch and twisted, before it’s back to the rock with ‘Boy, Did She Teach You Nothing’. A new drummer coincides with, or maybe is responsible for, the butched-up sound and I’m left thinking – again - that this is the best set of Absentee songs that I’ve heard. I get shivers when I think of it…
Bowerbirds
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North Carolina’s Bowerbirds play a stately and elegant music, part-folk, part Harvest Moon era Neil Young, with soaring harmonies that remind you of Fleet Foxes. With just guitar, violin, and accordion, plus bass drum if anyone is in range to play it with their foot, the three-piece conjure up sultry nights and trees dripping with Spanish moss. Atmospheric isn’t the half of it. Harmonies and acoustic instruments are again the feature of The Accidental; the way that Liam Bailey’s bass voice shadows and underpins Hannah Caughlin’s towering vocals in perfect complement is a thing of amazement, matched only by the pop-folk genius of ‘Illuminated Red’.
Seabear from Iceland are the revelation of the festival for me. Their album has a gentle indie-folk charm but the seven-strong line-up live is another prospect entirely; sweet pop with rich blasts of trumpet and washes of keyboards. How's it different from every other Scando band? It's the songwriting, stupid; the wonderfully droll Sindri Mar Sigfusson crafts hopelessly romantic but beautifully atmospheric tales that enchant you with their deceptive innocence and fabulous pop melodies. Last track 'Seashell' stands comparison with Sufjan Stevens, it's that good.
Seabear
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The main stage feels close and intimate for Bon Iver, despite it facing a field full of 3000 enraptured people. The songs sound as fragile and crystalline-pretty here as they do on record, Justin Vernon’s falsetto floating magically beyond the crowd and into the trees. When he encourages a crowd singalong of “what might have been lost”, there’s a tangible feeling of connection and community among the disparate crowd, another testament to the mercurial genius of Bon Iver, but the best is saved for the end; the four-piece band are joined by Bowerbirds for some incredible seven-strong harmonising on ‘Lovin’s for Fools’ (an obscure song (not for long) by Nashville songwriter Sarah Siskind). Cue 3000 minds being seriously boggled. “Awesome” is a word much overused (not by us…) but it applies in this case.
The thing about End of the Road is variety. So I choose to go and get some amazing Moroccan filled pastries between a couple of bands and miss the spectacular implosion of Low where Sparhawk, so I was told, swung his guitar three times over his head and flung it 50 feet into the middle of the rapidly parting crowd, lucky to hit the mud and not a punter.
Sennen surf in on an impressive wave of noise, part Pixies, part post-rock and part shoegazing, all propelled by furious guitars, four-square percussion and passionate vocals. Unlike their album, they don't bother with the quieter and more reflective songs but just pile on the wall of sound guitars and rock out in energising fashion.
When Steven Adams plays it’s like going back in time, in all the best ways. He always was a cheeky fucker, and his banter with Timothy Victor, his cruel wit towards the people on stage and in the audience and his ‘jelly and jam’ joke reminds you of those amazing nights in the Arts Café and other places where the frontman of The Broken Family Band kept you in stitches with his between-song profanities. And musically, his set is full of great old songs (and one great brand new one), including ‘Kissing in the Rain’ and You Broke My Fucking Heart’. He only played so he’d get into the festival free but End of the Road was more than rewarded by his set.
Strange looking blokes and a synthesiser girl pumping out serious electro beats with quirky, stream of consciousness lyrics. This was The Chap: a largely uncategorisable band – Wire was the only reference point that the angular art-dance sound suggested – but masses of fun. Intellectual disco, then - shake that booty, Einstein!
Shearwater are that branch of the Okkervil River that’s travelled far from its origins and is now closer to bands like Espers in their pastoral folk sounds. They can rock it up, but the overwhelming sense is of dreamy, delicate, meandering songs of sweetness, topped by the distinctive choirboy-in-confession voice of Jonathan Meiberg. (Ged M)
Screaming Tea Party
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While a snug setting like the Bimble Inn would’ve been my initial suggestion for Screaming Tea Party, they soon have the Big Top filled with punk-pop delights, not to mention an enthralled audience. After the opening, thrashy, ear-splitting numbers come the tweeish ‘Golden Blue’ and ‘Today is the Day’, the latter being particularly gorgeous with its dreamy “woohoo”-laden chorus – at this point, one struggles to think of a more incongruous guise than that of a gas mask-donning guitarist supplying such melodic pop. Awesome. Things get cranked up once more however with the always magnificent ‘Between Air & Air’, and their usual white-noised, finale freak out, during which guitarist Niyan takes over “vocal” duties. Such a schizophrenic set could always confuse/alienate an audience, but the quality of songs on offer coupled with the ferocious delivery puts paid to any such misfortune. There may not have been too many folk here familiar with this band, but STP certainly won’t be forgotten in a hurry. Simply brilliant.
Pete & the Pirates complete the Stolen Recordings showcase with their brand of indie pop perfection. The boys from Reading blast out faves such as ‘She Doesn’t Belong’ & ‘Knots’ with the usual gusto and even B-sides like ‘The Wrong Man’ stir up mass sing-alongs. The set races along so quickly it feels like barely half an hour, let alone the full 60 minutes allocated, and aside from introducing a “song about a cat” and the occasional “thank you”, the band have little to say when not tearing through their debut album.
British Sea Power
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This contrasts sharply with British Sea Power on the Garden Stage, with guitarist Noble in a particularly talkative mood. Whether it be apologising for the band’s apparent “pissing about”, or congratulating newly-wed Eamon Brakes, this is a much more relaxed BSP than I’m used to. But that’s far from bad news. Opening with the beautifully serene ‘A Wooden Horse’, the band opt for a set consisting of rarely aired treasures such as ‘A Lovely Day Tomorrow’ and highlights from their latest, Mercury-nominated LP. Even Noble’s guitar failing during closer ‘No Lucifer’ couldn’t spoil the mood; he simply leapt into the crowd and joined in with the chants of “Easy, Easy!” A certain member of Low should’ve been taking notes….
Relaxed is certainly not how I’d describe Low’s performance. It sways from one of heart-warming brilliance (especially during ‘Dinosaur Act’) to a painfully soporific experience. This is largely due to Sparhawk’s continuous whingeing; be it regarding the “crappy day” he’s having or the tech issues still afflicting the Garden Stage. The rapturous applause emanating from the Big Top is all the encouragement I need to leave Low behind. This early exit prevented me from witnessing Sparhawk lose it completely and hurl his guitar into the crowd. Not what your average Otter Ale / warm Cider-drinking spectator would’ve expected from these slowcore giants. Still, no one was injured; don’t think the band will be invited to EOTR 2009 though.
While you would never expect Mark Kozelek to be the cheeriest chap on the bill, at least Sun Kil Moon don’t mix their melancholic tunes with an instrument-tossing tantrum. It’s a pity that the set is over 30 minutes old but luckily I arrive in time for a few gems of the Americana-Folk-Rock variety. Standout track has to be the epic ‘Duk Koo Kim’ - part subtle, acoustic magic; part psychedelic-rock. The arrangement is extraordinary for its entire 14-plus minutes, and there are few singers around who can match Kozelek’s delivery of such haunting tales of (usually premature) death and tragedy.
Back at the Garden Stage, Mercury Rev divide their set into two distinct parts, with generally positive results. First up is the spaced-out, psychedelic Rev; complete with impressive lightshow but (initially) inaudible vocals from the ever-strange Jonathan Donahue. They also throw in a quite bizarre (chorus-less) cover of ‘Once in a Lifetime’, with Donuhue even including a few Byrne dance moves. As entertaining as the light/ freak show is, the set truly captivates during the more restrained second half. ‘Goddess on a Highway’ unsurprisingly goes down a storm, as does fellow Deserter’s Song ‘Tonite it Shows’ – both delivered flawlessly and duly lapped up by a now star-gazing crowd. (Pete W)
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