Parisian Post-rock/Electro noiseniks Team Ghost are first to take the stage on this balmy May evening in Shepherd’s Bush. The band is fronted by ex-M83 cohort Nick Fromageau who has now teamed up with composer Christophe Guerin and producer Jean-Philippe Talaga. Opening track Blood instantly evokes the singer’s former band as ambient strings meld with echoing piano - but the serenity is soon interrupted by unforgiving, brutal guitars that lay waste to the first half of the song like wildfire would acres of treasured forest.
Fromageau’s vocal is pitched somewhere between Brian Molko’s bi-curious burr and the scuzzball drawl of J.Mascis. Additionally, the spooky melodies and Krautrock rhythms of Deaf give an idea of what a collaboration of The Horrors and Deus might sound like. Tonight’s special guests give the crowd a healthy slab of MBV Candy-pop with A Glorious Time before ending with the exhilarating disco thrills of Echoes. Team Ghost’s music aims for for the heart and for the feet, and if they continue to score direct hits like they do tonight they are likely destined for big things.
But the reason this ever so elegant venue has sold out tonight is, of course, for the rare chance to see Swedish Dream-pop recluses, The Radio Dept. Singer Johann Duncanson ambles awkwardly onstage, followed by hulking bassist Martin Carlberg and moustachioed keyboard maestro Daniel Tjader. The band, tastefully backlit by a sparkling starcloth (supplied by Ed Warren of Next Level Lights) kick off the proceedings with the joyous jangle of This Time Around and follow it up with recent single Heaven’s On Fire, both tracks from new album Clinging To A Scheme. This upbeat opening salvo is followed up with the red-eyed reminiscing of I Wanted You To Feel The Same and the fuzzy recollections of 1995.
Duncanson expresses his deepest sympathies for our countries’ current political climate before playing placid protest song Freddie And The Trojan Horse, the thumping beat-box and reverb drenched lead guitar of the intro drawing huge cheers from the crowd. The Dub Reggae rhythms of Never Follow Suit, and the delectable Lo-fi drone of Keen On Boys bring the seemingly short set to an end. Thankfully, the band do shuffle back on stage after the house lights go up for an unplanned encore, and we get to hear the best song the Pet Shop Boys never wrote: Worst Taste In Music. Here’s hoping the success of tonight will mean that greater commercial gains will be in store for this criminally overlooked Dept.
