Tonight see’s indie pop trio, Lemuria bring their headline tour to Cardiff in support of their latest album, ‘The Distance Is So Big’
First up were Newport band Cardinals who announce their arrival with one of the moodiest instrumentals I’ve ever seen. With that in mind it makes it even more surprising that what followed was twenty minutes of actually really decent, upbeat pop punk. Frontman, Killian has a killer voice and the musicianship of the whole band is tight. Cardinals are ones to watch.
Up next was indie pop quartet, Joanna Gruesome. The venue had now begun to fill out nicely and the majority of the crowd couldn’t take their eyes off the band. Front woman, Alanna McArdle does come off as slightly nervous, unable to look at the crowd and seemingly focussing on a spot in the upper stage left of the venue but there are points in which she lets go, delivering some effective screams and great vocals. The band show flashes of brilliance, no more so in the high tempo outro set ender to which the band were left to their own devices as Alanna quickly makes an exit from the stage. There is a host of potential with Joanna Gruesome and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them break through and get some big exposure over the next year or so.
A last minute addition to tonight’s line up after The Arteries had to pull out were Bristol’s punk rock trio, Caves. The band has a fill in drummer tonight but that doesn’t stop them from putting on the set of the evening so far. From what I could tell the show was running a bit short on time so what followed was half an hour of frantic, incredible punk rock. The dynamic between the duel vocals of the band was brilliant. Playing songs mostly off their new album, Caves provide the set of the night.
Tonight’s headliner is Lemuria, the Brooklyn, NY three piece rocket through a set which is about forty minutes long. The band incorporate songs from their new album ‘The Distance Is So Big’ and songs such as opener ‘Brilliant Dancer’ and ‘Chihuly’ sound freaking amazing. The band don’t hold back with the classics either, ‘Pants’ brings the biggest sing-along of the night and ‘Pleaser’ gets the crowd moving. The band finish the night with an impromptu performance of ‘Ozzy’ leaving the crowd satisfied and going home safe in the knowledge that tonight’s show was a great showcase of female fronted punk rock.
CHRIS MARSHMAN