The Recommender

It pains me to say it, following the relatively recent online buzz of bands like Tall Ships and Loose Talk Costs Lives, but we think we’ve once again seen the new Foals. For fucks sake. Is there some kind of secret factory, situated somewhere inland, probably operated by Yannis turning some large wheel and stuffing coal in the back?!

On a serious note though, this new midlands four piece share plenty of genes with the Oxford math rock pioneers, but for once there’s plenty outside of the seemingly standard formula to take note. Peace have tapped into the recent, more expansive version of Foals, with towering atmospherics, showing off an extraordinary maturity well beyond this new band’s young years.

This exciting prospect are right at the beginning of the puzzle, standing at square number one, having only formed in October. Normally it would take more than the single demo on offer on their website to earn their place on The Recommender, but it at least it got our attention enough to warrant paying them a visit when they arrived in Brighton to support Diamond Rings earlier this week.

We hooked up with singer Harry Koisser and the others so they could pass me more recordings before enjoying their live set. We found the fresh-faced band members, with their floppy fringes and cool-but-self-conscious manner, just before they went on stage. They were charming and eager to please, but very coy with it, so it came as a surprise to then watch such a blistering set that held so much promise it made us wonder where they’d been hiding all the confidence. The phrase “under promise and over deliver” comes to mind. We’ve always noticed it’s the people that you find out are cool – not the ones that tell you – who are often the ones to watch.

They ripped into an astonishing collection of songs that struck up elements of the aforementioned Foals, to tracks that have the kind of scale normally associated with the likes of The Maccabees. Great riffs, a very Yannis-like vocal and several winning, melody-packed tunes were satisfyingly soaked up. This was impressive. If only they knew it. We share one demo below, which unfortunately sounds very unpolished and perhaps loses some of the details we witnessed with the live set, but don’t worry as they’ve assured us that they’ll be forwarding us the rest of the tunes once they are ready, which should be in the next few days.

Try to catch them live if you can – they play in Nottingham, Manchester and a homecoming gig over the next few weeks. During their enjoyable, somebody-pinch-me sets they constantly bob and weave to the beat in perfect tandem, showing off their obvious bond, but without actually looking at each other. However, as they grow and learn to look up and actually acknowledge one another on stage we predict some potentially explosive chemistry. This is a band that will be at it’s best when confidently pushing it, so we hope our comparisons don’t hold them back, but in fact they surge onto square number two, because at this rate they’ll be quickly leaving the likes of the Foals and the Maccabees stuck behind in that damn factory.  (MB)