The Thinking Men // NAC 11.07.14
Four local acts ranging from promising to bordering on great.
The Thinking Men // NAC 11.07.14
Opener Matt Selfe singer/guitarist is backed up by beats and samples from a laptop; sound wise it's triphop Coldplay covering U2. Selfe has a great voice, his songs are decent but the presentation is just too X-Factor for me. There's little spectacle and the occasional change of pace wouldn't go amiss. (5/10)
Backed by the Honeymoon, and moonlighting from Keep Up, Rory Hill presents a set of acoustic revery bearing a more than passing resemblance to Current93 with a dash of Americana. Not as good as Hill’s main band but not bad for a debut gig. (6/10)
Secret From Richard take things up a gear. The rousing choruses of their driving and anthemic songs hints at Biffy Clyro but they have their own identity. This is good bordering on great. (8/10)
Winners of the Next Big Thing, The Thinking Men's image suggests the house band in a speakeasy in a HBO period drama but the sound owes more to the Bad Seeds and 60s garage rock, with the spirit of Joe Strummer being near at hand in the likes of Pied Piper and Red Devil. Big things are definitely in store for this lot. (8/10)
Pavlis
