Bear in Heaven at the Lexington.

So last night I went to this gig at the Lexington in Islington. If you haven't been to the Lexington and you live in London I highly recommend it. As it's kinda rests on the periphery of the centre of London it's in a nice quiet-ish area which is nice and it also has a mad selection of American beers and whiskeys which are fun to try. Its over two levels, a more standard pub downstairs and the area for gigs upstairs.
Anyway there were three acts on, Chad Valley, Visions of Trees and Bear in Heaven.
Chad Valley is a single dude standing on the stage who who sounds exactly like Panda Bear when he sings. Which, I guess could be a compliment but it felt like I was just listening to Animal collective. The same intense use of noise and strange key changes in his voice and all. It was just a little too close to the bone really, and I felt uncomfortable listening to it because I didn't feel like it added anything to the Animal Collective style of sound (Lyndall called this guy the Animal Un-collective) and it just seemed like the guy didn't have anything new or vaguely interesting to add. Still he is obviously talented so maybe he'll find his own voice one day.
Next up was Visions of Trees. I have to say the first time Lyndall sent me one of their tracks my immediate thought was, this is indie Enya.
Now I have seen them I feel more like summing them up with a question.
What happens when three cars all smash into each other, one car containing Girls Aloud, one containing Enya and the other a pretty talented electronic producer/musician. That's right. Visions of Cheryl Cole....I mean trees.
I mean it wasn't that bad I guess. It's just the lead girl was so damn grating. She gyrated and did all the kind of terrible bullshit on stage moves you would expect of a bad girl band. Also her voice isn't really anything special. I mean it's a voice, like anyone else on Britians got talent has a voice. That stock standard I can sing voice. You know. The one you don't give a shit about.
Luckily they kind of pulled it back with their last track "Sometimes it Kills" which was the first one Lyndall sent me (Indie Enya) and goes to show I either have shit taste and and can't make my mind up about stuff or the band had just suitably lowered my expectations of music. No I take it back. That track is good............. I think.

So on came Bear in Heaven. And I have to tell you, if you like droney, minimalist, psychedelic, pop with massively catchy hooks, then you'll like this.
The poor bastards were pretty tired because of the volcano cloud of death and having to drive everywhere instead of catch planes around Europe, but they put on a hell of a show. The music is so perfect for listening to at higher volumes as it seems perfectly constructed to fill every single inch of space in a venue. You know what I mean? Like certain music feels like a blanket of sound wrapping itself around every inch of your body? So you almost feel like you're drowning in it. Well this did that. Something about the strange key changes in the droning basslines and the way they beautifully offset that with a drummer that was playing high hats and snare patterns which were really complex in a way you usually associate with overtly busy drum patterns from programmed electronic music. He was seriously good.
Factor in on top of that a lead singer with a comforting voice to guide the way through the mist of sound and you have a great band.
Seriously guys to look out for.