February 11, 2002

Starsailor/Ed Harcourt/Hoggboy/Electric Soft Parade : London Astoria

The latest NME Carling Show is very indie - but with added Memphis hips...

Soulfly are in a hurry. They've been pushed to the bottom of the bill because they have to rush off and hang out with The Who at the Royal Albert Hall.

Still, there's a job to be done and despite the half empty hall, they gamely spread their evangelical indie message. When they sound like Idlewild
('Empty At The End') they irritate. When they sound like long-gone nearlymen The Longpigs, ('Start Again') they confuse. But when they move into full psychedelic drone splendour on the closer 'Silent To The Dark' they come on like the quickly learning young cousins of Spiritualized and that is a very good thing.

Hoggboy, meanwhile, have a song called 'Ugh'! They mean it like its '74 and they're The Stooges!! They wear tight strides, have battered black leather coats and work their hair!!! Problem is, they're from Sheffield. And their frontman doesn't know if he wants to be Iggy or Jarvis, a quandary that makes for many curious arm movements. Despite their best protestations, it just doesn't ring true. Unwashed Hives
anyone?

Ed Harcourt means well. He writes songs about heartbreak and loss and delivers them sweetly. He has been pitched as someone who plays an English twist on Americana - a south coast Josh Rouse with a pinch of Rufus Wainwright. In truth, he's a scrubbed-up version of Badly Drawn Boy but lacks the ramshackle charm that Gough sometimes uses to move him through the less fertile moments.

When Starsailor played on Monday at the first NME show, they were tired. A month long trek around America with Charlatans
had left them sounding lean but spent. Tonight, they know they have to raise the bar.

The point is not lost on the band. "We have some surprises for you," says frontman James Walsh. "We think we have something to prove."

So enter a cellist to bulk out the sound; enter two statuesque gospel singers to provide some Memphis hips and welcome a band hitting the top of their form.

A new track, 'Born Again' sounds like the best epic bits of Verve without ever losing Starsailor's distinctive gait while 'Lullaby' soars and 'Alcoholic' carries a mean swagger. But it's 'Good Souls', their uplifting show closer, that continues to sparkle.

Frank Spooner