Guillemots: Les Black Sessions
It’s looking more and more like Guillemots will be firmly entrenched in my #2 favorite band spot by the end of this year, and seeing them live (if my dream ever materializes) should only further lock up that title for them, if the quality of this live session is anything to go by. Guillemots are my favorite kind of live band - the kind that takes the extra time to ensure that their live show is more than just a by-the-numbers recital of their most recent album and reinvent their songs for the live setting. Very few of the songs in this set go un-reworked, and the band to a great job of spreading their setlist over their entire career, rather than merely focusing on their new debut LP, Through The Windowpane, as they take two tracks from their debut I Saw Such Things In My Sleep EP (”Lovesong” and “Lights Off”), two tracks from their American debut, 2006’s From The Cliffs mini-album (”Trains” and “Go Away”), two new songs from Windowpane (the title track, “If The World Ends” and closer “Sao Paolo”), as well as including one brand new non-album track, “Sea Out”.
Recorded on May 2nd of this year at France’s legendary Les Black Sessions, this session really provides one a good taste of Guillemots oft-experimental live show. The stuttering piano line in “Windowpane” has never sounded better than it does here, new track “Sea Out” plods along but ultimately pleases, and “Who Left The Lights Off, Baby” is spiced up with out-of-nowhere crushing guitars that veers away from the sugarcoated pop of the original and adds a whole new dynamic to the song. “If The World Ends” stay fairly true to the album version, as does “Trains To Brazil”, but “Made Up Lovesong” undergoes a complete (and awesome) revamping the original with an acoustic, chimey intro. “Go Away” is good and all as well, but it’s closer “Sao Paolo”, cut down from it’s behemoth 11:42 run-time to a pussy-ass 9:53, that really makes you want to fly anywhere in the world to see this band.
SOUND QUALITY: A-
Guillemots, Les Black Sessions:
01. “Through The Windowpane”
02. “Sea Out”
03. “Who Left The Lights Off, Baby”
04. “If The World Ends”
05. “Made Up Lovesong #43″
06. “Trains To Brazil”
07. “Go Away”
08. “Sao Paolo”