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home » festivals » Truck festival » Truck Festival 2009
Pete Molinari delights on second day of TruckTruck Festival 2009 reviewWednesday 29th July 2009 Saturday's idyllic conditions are replaced by ominous, grey clouds and the threat of rain on Sunday at Hill Farm. Second on the Truck Stage are Oxford's The Relationships, now in their 15th year.
The Relationships are as English as Truck, picnics in the rain or binge drinking and provide a gentle pastoral start to the day. 'Living In a House with Brian Jones' is typical of their inoffensive, middle-class, folk-pop and is like being transported back to 1960's middle England, with portly singer Richard Ramage, in country gentleman attire and looking a little like a Geography teacher, singing "We got bombed in the war, we cried when Winston Churchill died", demonstrating aptly the average present in the band. 'Space Race' is similarly nostalgic and twee, featuring the line "We were singing Rule Britannia as we conquered space" and sounding not unlike The Kinks, or early Pulp. The Relationships' final song 'The Eternal Colonel' is inoffensive, gentle and floaty, with jangling Birdsy guitars, but with such a young audience, many of whom will have little knowledge of the band's reference points, the set was always likely to gain nothing more than polite indifference.
They completed a spell as Frank Turner's backing band earlier this year and have recently been on tour with the bearded solo artist. First song 'What Was I Bid For This?' certainly sounds like early Idlewild, with its spiky, insistent lead lines, although the vocals are more angular and pleading, in the mould of At The Drive In. 'Good Show' powers in with rattling drums and growling, meaty guitars and breaks into a Nirvana-like stomp, but the song has excellent dynamics, flitting between the wanton rush of the chorus and more introspective, thoughtful moments wrapped up in the verses. 'Not The Enemy' is slower and more contemplative, but after a handful of songs the blonde-haired, elfen singer's yelpy vocals begin to grate a little and things have become a little samey. Dive Dive's explosive and frustrated riff-heavy sound is definitely worthy of further attention, though. In the quaint surroundings of the Village Pub tent, Malvern's flame-haired solo artist Sam Isaac and his recently-enlisted five-piece band are ready to go. 'Sideways' sounds somewhere between early Jack Penate and Morrissey with its cutesy, yet melancholic "We'll get bicycles and ride downhill" opening line. Its stringsy feel and clean, chiming riff lend an air of majesty and longing before the song is carried to its conclusion by disappointingly hum-drum "bah-dah-dah-dah" harmonies. With a loose-tongued Estuary English vocal style that has become so popular in indie music over the past few years, it's all very middle of the road, day-time radio-friendly stuff, although Isaac and his new band appear to have bonded very well and they look a cohesive unit rather than a collection of hired help. 20-year-old bassist Sophie Galpin, already an experienced session musician at such a tender age, adds spiky attitude, in her skinny-fit riot girl T-shirt, cutting angular shapes and pausing to adjust her immaculate fringe at regular intervals. Her punky, precocious basslines and Le Tigre-esque harmonies drive on the songs and lend a cutting edge to the twee, pleasant arrangements. 'Sticker, Star and Tape' is shot through with an infectious Moog-like keyboard riff and pushed along firmly by Galpin's driving bass work and vocal additions, meaning there's enough going on, on stage, to lift things just about far enough above the realms of every-day mediocre pop and make the set a qualified success.
Molinari spent time playing the same New York coffee shops that Dylan cut his teeth in and today's show has the feel of a meditative Sunday afternoon in a Greenwich Village cafe. First song 'Love Lies Bleeding' is lovely, rolling 12-bar-blues and sounds like something from Dylan's under-appreciated first album. After an impassioned personal request from a member of the audience, Molinari begins the beautiful, regretful 'The Man I Am'. Peering out from beneath a dark green cloth cap, he croons the agonising, heart-breaking line, "I cant love you, I really dont think that I can, oh I can't love you, cos I don't like the man that I am". The song is one of the highlights of the weekend. He then gives new material 'No Traces Of You' a first airing, admitting with his cheeky grin "Ill scare myself half to death" and the song is a picture of 50s America, with his voice sounding well-worn and rueful, yet endlessly soothing. Harpist Clive Mellor, who has toured with Richard Hawley, is welcomed on stage and he wrings out swathes of howling vibrato that entwine themselves perfectly with Molinari's voice. The pair haven't played together before, but jam their way through the set brilliantly and can be heard in the near-silent tent debating what key to play in between songs. 'A Satisfied Man', which Molinari recently recorded as a single in Nashville, has a gorgeous country feel as he reflects on happiness and fulfilment despite being flat broke. He finishes with a bluesy song written about his love and loathing of life in New York, during a spell in the Big Apple and his set is given a lengthy and warm ovation. At the end of an afternoon of low-key, delightful performances, Molinari provides the perfect way to warm up for tonight's headliners on the Truck Stage, local heroes Supergrass. review by Gary Walker photos by Steve Palmer
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