Bailing on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Kentish Town I throw myself on the mercy of the infamous Northern line in a desperate bid to catch London pop-noir 5-piece luxembourg playing in Soho. I dash to the venue (pant, pant) only to be delayed by door staff who act with all the speed of a garden slug in a salt mine, the strains of the band wafting tantalizingly, frustratingly, up the stairs. Eventually gaining entry to Madam Jo Jo’s lower regions, the lads are in full swing. You may question the value of reviewing half a set by a support act (they open for electroclashers Avenue D) but part of SXP’s remit, nay, a sacred obligation, is to champion the little-known and the unsigned, and that includes, inexplicably, luxembourg. I’ve been anxious to see them since their superb demo EP ‘Tourist Information’ (reviewed target="_blank"here ) became one with my CD player, and I’m not disappointed.
Built almost as much around floppy-haired Alex’s simple keyboards as much as chunky Rob’s guitar sound (he proudly models a t-shirt emblazoned with ‘Fuck Art, Let’s Dance’), luxembourg are blessed with a hugely talented singer in the shape of David Shah. Decked out in black suit, white shirt and black tie, his lush, velvety voice takes in Morrissey via ABC’s Martin Fry with a hint of Bryan Ferry, not in sound, but in vocal intonation. A heady amalgam of the Britpoppines of Pulp streaked through with New Romanticism, the set includes topical asylum-seeking song Let Us Have It (‘are you sure that you’re oh so pure?/just how far back do you want to go?) and, after a false start of Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights, closes with ‘future hit single’, disco-rocker Success Is Never Enough. All choppy guitars and synth niggles, David croons ‘I want success just like the rest’, and if ever a band deserves it, it’s the luxemboys. With guitar problems mid-song, Rob, unfazed, plonks his instrument down, and while his bandmates play on, poses around the stage with a ciggy. Top stuff.
Next gig is at the Buffalo Bar, Highbury Corner on April 29th. You’d be a fool to miss it.
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