Live Review from Underground 52:
Set List:
– rebirth
– mystical
– switch
– 虹 (L’Arc~en~Ciel cover song)
– The Simple Days
5-piece LesAiles (Marvin, Kinyat, Arthur, Eddy + Sayaka) began the night’s sessions with some good solid rock sounds in Rebirth. The pint-sized, spiky-haired lead singer was gutsy and emotional. I liked the fact that his vocals weren’t what you heard above all else but the band’s sound was still tight and together. Mystical saw the lead singer take up the guitar to create a different nuance to LesAiles’ brand of very listenable rock.
Switch featured some beautiful guitar-led melodies and strong drumming. (National Geographic spotted the elusive Chris B and filmed what they could of it which took some focus off the band for a few seconds.)
A cover of L’Arc-en-Ciel’s followed with some nice crystalline keyboard sounds from the female keyboardist. I’m not a fan of Japanese pop sounds as the sound is too saccharine and convoluted to my ears and everything sounds like a karaoke-version of My Way, as executed horribly in every bar across Japan. I like to call a clear division between indie and commercial music when I go to hear indie bands. And yes, I know there is an acceptable face to indie pop, such as R.E.M., Travis, etc. but, unfortunately this was not it, in my view. So I guess all I can say was that it was ‘pretty’… in an erky-blurky Celine Dion kind of way…
Their final song The Simple Days was a return to a great rock sound with a strong rhythm section and three guitars – the lead an enviable shade of fire-engine red. The band worked hard to deliver really nice strong riffs and punchy vocals right to the loud, loud end.
An enjoyable, competently-played set in all. LesAiles are consistently good – they have found their sound and own it. They offer both rock and gentler pop sounds stamped with that all-necessary mark of innovation.
Isobel Shahzneen Saunders
