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Clarkesville @ Water Rats 04/02/04
All in all, this gig is hopefully an important steeping stone for a band with some great songs, and the ability to progress to do even better things. Upon leaving the Water Rats I could hear a voice behind me saying “When he came back on stage for the encore, I was so happy I almost cried.” For Clarkesville, the world of crazy obsessed fans has hopefully only just begun. by Jim Brunsden Photos by Dan Bozinovsky (If you'd like the chance to contribute to our website please sign up for our free membership scheme, like Geelezee did, which also entitles you to discounts on Plum Promotions gigs at The Water Rats in Kings Cross & Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon, as well as the opportunity to get free tickets for gigs, and news about any "secret" gigs.) Reviews Archive: Laptop, The Parkinsons, Maroon 5, Guitar Vader, The Raveonettes, Mono, Dawn of the Replicants, Demo Workshops, The Jeevas, The Wannadies, Mclusky, Alanis Morissette, The Leaves & Phantom Planet, The Breeders, Freeheat, The Hives, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Peter Yorn, Jason Mraz, Mary Guibert |
The
best moment of the Clarkesville gig came mid way through the 6th
song, 'Evergreen'. It’s a very pretty acoustic tune, which
was played solo by Michael. The lyrics were about a wholesome, pure
relationship gone wrong - 'my many flaws used to go unseen'. My
initial notes on this were 'see Busted in 5 years time'. A few seconds
after writing this, I realised I had been highly foolish. The recent
hype surrounding Clarkesville has been fairly intense, so much so
that their single 'Spinning' has even penetrated the firewall at
Virgin Megastore Radio on a regular basis. This led in turn to the
bar area of the Water Rats being packed with lots of people who,
you could argue, don't actually like music, ie music industry types
and blaggers. This bunch wouldn't keep quiet. Indeed, their ramblings
were loud enough to drift in through the doors to the venue proper.
In the wake of this, it dawned on me that 'Evergreen' was a really
good song, and one of those enigmatic moments you go to gentler
gigs for. The hub-bub from the next room brought out the meaning
of what Michael was singing to us. He was a lonely soul searching,
expressing a longing for something beautiful, greeted with indifference.
This was a theme picked up on in next tune 'Last Man Standing',
with a really amazing melody change over the line 'I love you too
much'. The same intimate atmosphere returned when Michael came onto
play the song 'Reprise' as an encore.
My
initial disillusionment with Clarkesville was probably down to how
different their opening number was to almost all the rest of the
gig. For this song the band's set up was radically altered from
the usual bass-drum-guitar arrangement, with Michael on keyboard
and Nicoli playing synth. It was breathtaking, a tingling explosion
of catharsis. Clarkesville appeared to be a band that had discovered
their own sound, and broken out of their shell. Because of this,
it was really disappointing to see them switch onto guitars for
second song 'Heavy Soul', and stay on them for almost the rest of
the gig. The opener echoed so much of what was amazing about Elliott
Smith, more recent Mogwai, and the less pompous moments of Coldplay.
It's a shame they haven't yet decided to pursue this side of their
music further. The reappearance of Michael's keyboard in 'Someday'
later in the set produced another one of their best songs. 
The
rest of their material, however, was gifted with some lovely nuances,
especially in Nicoli's guitar work. This can most readily be seen
in single 'Spun' and ‘Last Man Standing'.