ACOUSTIC

I like to imagine that bands are created in a Weird Science-style lab, and that when they’re complete, they emerge in a puff of dry ice to the delight of their creator. Then again, maybe I should lay off the Irn Bru a little.

The Yellow Bentines have been put together, it seems, with a potentially winning combination of components, and although tonight are an acoustic two-man operation rather than the usual six-piece, it’s clear that they mix cheery poppy tunes with a strong voice that’s cut from the same cloth as current chart-botherers The Hoosiers or Plain White T’s. Or, on the gentler songs, Travis and Coldplay. Other influences creep in too, for example a little bit of klezmer, although it’s maybe best to draw a veil over the church organ sound and the foray into a (slim) shady midway point between singing and rapping. That the majority in attendance seemed indifferent is a shame but understandable, although a successful attempt to get the audience to clap along proved that presence is an ingredient few bands can afford to live without.