Everything Everything

First off, and I say this every year, the courtyard at Somerset House is a splendid venue for a music gig. Acoustics are good, surroundings impressive and its but a stroll from the office (or the West End which happened to be where I was coming from after going round the Sicily exhibition at the British Museum).

Having gathered together my little party of 5 and installed myself on the barrier right at the front, we settled down to watch the support act Pumarosa. Had never come across them before. One of my p[arty with typical Laconic wit described them as "not shit" which is quite a high complement from him. The female lead singer has a serious vice and not a little of the Florence Welch about her. Overall we were impressed. (Although some of the lads were a bit entranced by her unshaven armpits....)

But we were here to see Everything Everything, a Manchester indie band. What makes them interesting is also what means they will never headline festivals , although they gathered a decent enough crowd here. Their music is interesting because it doesn't take just one form - nothing is standard verse chorus. But it also means they lack the catchy tunes that enable a crowd to sing a long happily, well only in small patches. Weird lyrics such as "it's alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair" again go to make them quirky but not popularist.

Lead singer Jonathan Higgs has a high-pitched voice which goes up scales but is also usd in patches of rapping. Nothing flows, but then its not really meant to. Radiohead have done ok with some similar features (and yes ok they can headline a festival) but Everything Everything aren't quite in Radiohead's league for innovation or depth.