March 24, 2006

Semifinalists: Bar Academy, Birmingham: Tuesday March 7

On your marks, get set, go… if you like

It’s nice to know the art of being modest isn’t dead. Aside from calling themselves Semifinalists, this trio exhibit the kind of sheepish body language that would make a bed-wetting monk look hard and boast a total sonic arsenal of drums, guitar and one of those crappy £4.99 toy organs you get from Woolies. Not so much cock-sure, then, as not-sure – but what they lack in strut they make back ten-fold in sound. Each tune feels more like a hazy summer daydream than an actual song.

The unearthly beauty of ‘Show The Way’ is like listening to an infant sister of The Flaming Lips’ ‘Race For The Prize’. The real ace up their collective sleeves however is the fact that each member possesses a voice as angelic as a baby photo of Alex Turner.

OK, so Semifinalists might not be a band to make you rip off your clothes and run naked in the streets but as they add a few lines of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ into the final flurry of My Bloody Valentine-style noise, it’s clear that they’re not allergic to humour either. A band destined to go one step further than their name suggests.

Hardeep Phull

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