Jungle Indie Rock
by Mar de Miguel
Rhythmic melodies, sweetness and sympathy, that's how I would define Boat Beam concert yesterday in Madrid. The trio of Josephine Ayling, Aurora Aroca and Alisha Buttke release with this concert their latest album, Reincarnation (Origami Records, 2011), second studio album just a year after their EP Paper Birds and two of their debut album Puzzle Shapes.
This is a record in which, as is always normal in the work of these three girls, there is no lower cuts. Each and every one of the tracks could be one of the singles, videos or become a flagship song for this band.
And what a better way to listen for the first time this work than doing it live? To experience all these sensations directly from Boat Beam is a treat for the senses.
Their live music engage you, it is very beautiful, with exquisite tact, with a wealth of nuances that run smoothly styles ranging from folk to dreamy soft pop, but leave room for something
else. From Bossa Nova airs as in "Exhibit A" to something kind of Irish like in "Fishing For Spears", the trio of fairies Boat Beam performed one to one
almost every song of Reincarnation. With tunes like "Bergamot & Cinamon" or "Light Years" we can be transported in an imaginary flight to touch down
just after the applause of an audience absolutely delighted.
"Igloo" from their previous album, sounds like a broken waltz, a sound grotesque and perhaps the track that I like less of all his work, but its live gives body to the track list
and it gets you in its final crescendo. Not so with "The Rain Pauly", also from Puzzles Shapes album, the band best known song, because it is a great song and it
could well summarize the sound of this band, a delicate and very feminine one.
After a short pause Boat Beam returned with "Axis Of Rotation". This is a theme with a more electronic base and that shows the other side of the band, his most pop rock face,
sometimes lo-fi sound. But I would say that Boat Beam could play anything and with them anything would sound good. Remarkable "Sirens", also at the end and announcing that
this will be the track for their next video.
Finally, I want to say that I really missed the track Paper Birds, first of the songs with I knew the band and fell in love with them, a song that's in my Zune and I listen to wherever I go.
Set List
1 Amsterdam 1740 (2011)
2 Falling Over (2009)
3 Sabio (2011)
4 Bergamot & Cinnamon (2011)
5 Exhibit a (2011)
6 Light Years (2011)
7 Sharkfins (2011)
8 The Rain Pauly (2009)
9 Lion Hunt (2009)
10 Pollen On The Dust (2011)
11 Harpoon (2011)
12 Fishing For Spears (2011)
13 Igloo (2009)
14 Axis of Rotation (2011)
15 Sirens (2011)
16 Commitment to the company (2010)
17 I Am A Walrus (The Beatles cover)
