Live: Mounties

17th April

The Deaf Institute

5/10

Canadian indie supergroup Mounties failed to impress at a near empty Deaf Institute. The release of their debut full-length album Thrash Rock Legacy a year ago signalled a bright future for the outfit with a collection of charging indie rock. In fact, opener ‘Pretty Respectable’ reflects the spirit of the album well with a tantalising synth hook, catchy lyrics and driving bassline.

However, after the opener the band fail to catch the attention of the crowd for long spells. ‘Feeling Low’ sounds messy, which is more to do with the song itself rather than poor performance as there is just too much texture for it to translate well live. ‘Waking Up On Time’ is a lovely studio song transmitting great summery vibes with fantastic synth melodies and airy vocals, but once again the song fails to translate well to a live setting. It seems the band want to rock-up their songs for live performances, yet in doing so they lose the delicacies that make their music so appealing.

Despite this, the gig does pick up quite well towards the end with a sequence of songs that of much better quality. ‘If This Dance Catches On’ is a driven guitar-led piece of indie rock that lifts the mood and even inspires the audience to put on their dancing shoes for the rest of the set. ‘Headphones’ is a foot-tapping singalong that is a good song despite some rather naff lyrics. However, by far the band’s best song is closing number ‘Tokyo Summer’ which shows the true potential of the band to infuse their brand of indie with bursting synth melodies and catchy vocals.

Don’t write off Mounties as they do have lots of potential and future material is definitely something to look forward to, but their live performance was not as impressive as their studio material and it must be said that their Friday night slot at the Deaf Institute was ultimately a wasted opportunity.