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We're gonna stick our necks out and say it - this year, Easyworld are gonna be massive. And not just because Radio 1 have finally playlisted one of their singles - quite simply, if tonight is anything to go by, they've come up with a very early contender for Album of the Year. It takes a lot of guts, not to mention skill, to do a set like this - okay, so the release of the group's third album (counting their Fierce Panda debut mini) is imminent but still, to go out and draw all but four songs of the songs you play from an album that nobody's heard yet is, to put it mildly, a bit of a high risk strategy.
It takes even more skill to pull it off but there's no doubt that Easyworld do. Quite simply, if tonight's show is anything to go by, Eastbourne's finest have written this year's heartbreak album, taking the template of their excellent previous effort "This Is Where I Stand" but adding a heavy dose of pathos to the equation. Hence, "'Til The Day", "Saddest Song", "Driving By Your House", "I Don't Expect You To Notice" and especially the superb string-drenched one night stand lament "Tonight" are beautifully desolate odes to love and friendships lost and won. If Coldplay didn't dress their music up in annoying art school pretentiousness, they might be able to write songs as good as these. Add to that quite brilliantly barbed renditions of "A Stain To Never Fade" and "You And Me" and you've got an hour of some of the most beautiful music you'll hear at a live gig this side of Mercury Rev. And, just to put the cherry on the proverbial cake, they take a musical sledgehammer to Justin Timberlake's "Rock Ya Body" for the encore as well.
Like we say, this year they're gonna be massive. And they deserve it. Go and see 'em now.
Review and pic by Andy James
