Fresh from playing at the Duke of York’s with the inestimably lovely Emmy the Great, the band’s mentor of sorts, the equally lovely, quirky and ultra-talented Nimmo & the Gauntletts head up October’s Communion line-up at the Hope. If you missed the band’s previous performance at Communion earlier in the year, the redemptive music gods are on your side, because this is another chance to see one of the most exciting, euphoric young bands around at the moment.
We could wibble on pretty much ad nauseam about this band, not only (but primarily) because we’re sad fools, but dammit-to-hell few bands manage to piece together such a seemingly disparate bunch of influences into such an energetic but goshdarned tight sound. Take the saxophone-led “Star Crossed Lonely”, which initially sounds like something Foals might have conjured up but branches out into a whirling twister of dance indie. Old fave “Bandol Blues” is like new wave for a new wave, urgent but beautiful, an extraordinary, frothy jingle jangle delight, as at home in 2011 as if it had been written back in the early ’80s. Which feels like its spiritual home.
The band – named after front pairing Sarah Nimmo and Reva Gauntlett – but also very much starring Joshua Faull, Hannah Rose and Jack Williams are a blast of invigorating, heartfelt indie music. You could throw a heap of musical labels at them but none of them would stick; it’s music that flew the pigeonholes at the first opportunity and isn’t coming back in a hurry, and with a debut EP “Young Light” set for release in the next month or two, 2012 is set to be a big year for the effervescent five-piece.
nimmoandthegauntlettsuk
Communion
Photo courtesy of Louise Ronnestad
