February 29, 2008

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Emmy The Great, Ox. Eagle. Lion. Man

Private school poetry is no match for a straight-talking Duckworth. KOKO, London (February 15)

Despite their painfully hip exterior, it’s clear the second Ox. Eagle. Lion. Man. take to the stage that they’re a bunch of geeks. Like typical bright young things they play the “incredibly clever” card – a horse that apparently still has some life in it after the smug private-school set kicked it senseless. Existing in a universe full of ridiculous melodrama where The Horrors coexist peacefully with Deep Purple, it’s half ultra-cool indie, half ‘Ultimate Power Ballads’.

Approximately a million sonic miles away but next on the bill, Emmy The Great is the unexpected jewel in tonight’s crown. Her idiosyncratically English take on the Saddle Creek sound is a breath of fresh air. It’s a set free from irony and pretension and bursting with poetry and passion.

Scenes of near-hysteria greet Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly’s Sam Duckworth – somewhat surprising for someone who could make a comfortable living as a Jamie Cullum impersonator, but it’s clearly heartfelt and sincere. Backed by a band with trumpets (trumpets!), he knows how to play up to the hype, and tonight it’s squeals all round. Get your cape, Sam, you’ve pulled.

Rebecca Robinson

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