Rock Regeneration

Jan12

Bewilder/Head Of A Cuban Trojan/Farao

on January 12th, 2013 at 21:15

Sixty Million Postcards, Bournemouth

Saturday night and London promoters “Neighbourhoods” bring a diverse line up of 3 acts to 60 Million Postcards in Bournemouth to liven up a somewhat cold dull January evening.

First on stage at the hour of 9pm is Norwegian artist Kari Jahnsen who goes by her pseudonym of “Farao”, with just her acoustic guitar she battles hard against loud volume of the largely uninterested audience who mainly continue their conversations throughout her set. If they had just paused for a moment and listened they would have heard the delightful sounds of Farao’s sweet but delicate voice which delighted the few members of the audience who took time to check her quaint brand of experimental folk out. Sadly she left the stage mostly un noticed by most which is disappointing considering her obvious talents.

Farao 1

Next up were Bournemouth’s very own “Head Of A Cuban Trojan” who themselves pulled quite a hefty crowd along with them. This time the volume seemed to be cranked up much higher and the audience were paying full attention. The band comprise of Imogen Charleston on bass/bugle with her brother Andrew on Drums with Lee Jones on guitar completing the line up. They produce a wild grungy sound full of ear shattering feedback coupled with lots of original experimental guitar effects, as well as a live bugle pushed through a loop pedal to create an ambient drone. The impressive energy created by the bands sound generates right into the heart of the audience all whom seem to be more than satisfied by the band’s hypnotic set, which included numbers from their EP “Amazing Lion” which is available for free from their Bandcamp webpage. Head Of A Cuban Trojan left the stage triumphant after an impressive 30 minute set with plenty of positive responses from the audience. Apparently the 90’s guitar sound is going to come back in a big way in 2013 so HOACT should fit in perfectly.

Head Of A Cuban Trojan 1–2–3

The final band are Southampton four piece “Bewilder” who take to the stage with the audience still in place and full of quiet expectation. The band initially produce a laid back ambient instrumental sound of shoegazed twin guitars coupled to effects pedals which gets lots of heads in the audience nodding along. The set is mainly culled of material from their Ep “This Isn’t Life It’s Just Stuff” which is also available for free on their Bandcamp website ( http://bewilder.bandcamp.com), the songs all seem to have unusally long names and zany titles, so abreviations on your ipods may me necessary. In between each song the two guitarists annoyingly keep the crowd waiting by performing what is seemingly endless unnecessary tuning to their already perfectly sounding guitars. They produce a highly experimental post rock sound which does have some flashes of excellence throughout, with possibly more tweaks and songs needed to enhance the performance. On the band’s last song of their very short set “What’s Passed is Past” vocalist George Brooks delivers some initial delicate vocals which develops into a bellowed scream of “Don’t Be Afraid” until close. The band remove their guitars after barely 25 minutes on stage, their are shouts for more but they are sadly declined as apparently there was a train waiting at Bournemouth station to take them back home. All in all an very interesting evening of some great diverse acts all of whom are entertaining in their very own varied way.