Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Damian Robinson revels in grooves, dance-minded tracks and camaraderie
Image by Rhiannon Banks
Given the sheer pop-electro joy of his recently released second album, it’s hard to imagine what Orlando Weeks needs to do to recreate the sheer happiness of Hop Up to the live setting. As is happens, the answer seems to lie someplace between dancing like Bez, looking nervous and bringing a whole load of likeminded, lo-fi loving mates on tour with you.
Grounded in a musical set-up that brings the intellectual-meets-mates-down-the-pub ambience of Elbow and matches it with the exceptional deft musicality of Radiohead (circa In Rainbows era), Weeks and his ramshackled collective manage to pull off an incredible show by spending the night right at the cross section of nervousness and extreme confidence.
Filled with rare groove, dance-minded, tracks, Weeks combines lovely falsettos with abstract lyrics into a show that blossoms with deep emotion and a level of commitment that shines through every nervous look towards the audience, every appreciative smile, and every dance step that’s just slightly out of time. The important thing though is that it all works. And it all works because you know that sometimes emotion and effort carry a lot more importance and meaning than precision and perfection.
As it happens, you recreate the happiness of ‘Hop up’ by being yourself on stage and surrounding yourself with friends.
