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Slow Down Tallahassee / Nat Johnson / The Pete Green Corporate Juggernaut
The Redhouse, Sheffield
Article
written by Matt H
May 27, 2008.
Slow Down Tallahassee
Having once speculated that Pete Green's songs would work well in front a small pub audience with lots of friends in it, I'm glad it turns out to be true. He's playing for the first time with a band who beef up a bit his trademark gently satirical strum. Whether sketching out the travails of the indie fan/musician or railing against the commercialisation of the NME, he never fails to raise a smile of recognition. It's the sort of thing that ought to earn a regular slot in the Loose Ends studio. When he cuts back on the humour though, he's even better. It's Gonna Happen Soon with all its hope and apprehension and Pete's endearingly reaching vocal has all the straightforward, tuneful charm (if not the volume) of early Mega-City Four - and in case you're wondering that's high praise.
Nat Johnson
Nat Johnson of course spent a few years crafting multi-textured folky pop songs with the marvellous Monkey Swallows the Universe. Having set off on a solo career, she's not just relying on her mellifluous tones, keeping the harmonies and some of the accompaniment by nifty use of an effects pedal to sample herself (oh, and by bringing back MSTU's drummer Rob for a few songs...). When not covering old doo-wop classics, she shows that she's lost none of her skill in writing songs that are as sharp and melancholic as they are lovely to listen too. MSTU had started making some waves in the right places, there's something of a risk that Nat Johnson will be lost amongst the welter of more histrionic stage-school talents that have sprung up of late. That would be a travesty, 'cos she's worth ten of them.
Tonight though is all about Slow Down Tallahassee, it being a launch party for their utterly wonderful new album The Beautiful Light. One of these days I'm going to see them when the sound is perfect, or even decent and they're going to carry all before them. The songs which work best are the ones where the guitars are supposed to swamp the rest out (the fuzzed-up pop of Electric Sun) or where it's barely being played (the delicate piano of Limbs, the vitriolic sweetness of A Little Hex for you and the horny sing-along of Kiss Me Again - surely destined to get sensitive indie kids up and down the country tearing their cardies off in lust). But even thoughon the rest the swathes of
Slow Down Tallahassee
sumptuous synth you know are there barely make their way over the fuzz, the songs are too strong and the audience too keen for it to matter much. We all love black-hearted bubblegum pop and Slow Down Tallahassee know how to provide it. This should be their year.
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