Anna Calvi is a bit of a mystery. At tiptoe she probably still a fag paper under 5 foot 4, but when on stage she towers over the rest of the band while firing out lightning bolts from her battered telecaster. At the time of watching the expectation's were high and although she's proficient and can solo with the rest of them I wondered whether if the novelty of her being a girl rather than a sweaty longhaired rocker in an Iron Maiden 87' world tour t-shirt gave her the upper hand and wow factor.
I suppose being a girl in the world of posing guitar heroes mean's she has to be double good (to use a Shaun Rider-ism) just to be taken seriously although maybe that's just my ingrained sexism coming to light.
The upcoming debut single "Jezebel" (out on Domino records on October 11th) is a well chosen and slightly leftfield cover of an Edith Piaf song and although on first hearing felt that some horns or mariachi trumpets would bring the whole thing to life a little more still was executed very well and will be a star buy of mine that will be getting an airing at my dj night about town...
Headlining the same show at London's Borderline were Brooklyn New York's own Forest Fire on their return shows in London and at the tail end of their recent visit after their amazing End Of The Road festival shows this past weekend.
Starting with feedback drenched harmonics and fuzz reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine rather than the Fleet Foxes comparisons made by lazy journalists that saw their record next to each other in the CD racks and assumed they were similar. Definitely one to watch, more in the vein of Sonic Youth if they'd grown up in Woodstock. Songs glide between full on feedback drones to gentle flute accompanied Lennon influenced ballads while the statue like bass player doing her best Bill Wyman impression kept the low end stuck solid to the bass drum and without sounding too poncey almost a plastic ono band for the 21st century if the blasphemy isn't too choking. I heard Mecury Rev glimmers while other's heard Black Keys riffs, a band for everyone with taste.
Give them a listen pop pickers, Debut Album "Survival" is out on Broken Sound Records and has already made the Rough Trade top 10 albums of the year....
www.myspace.com/annacalvi
www.myspace.com/fuckforestfire
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