Live: Wild Flag

31st January 2012

Sound Control

8/10

The term ‘supergroup’ has really become a bit of a non-sequitur; so often, these bands end up being something far less than the sum of their parts, from the underwhelming (Them Crooked Vultures, The Dead Weather) to the downright disastrous (Jay-Z, Ja Rule and DMX’s proposed collaboration never even got off the ground, which in retrospect was probably for the best). Wild Flag emerged wholly from leftfield last year, with a sublime debut record that achieved the rare feat of making collaborative material from four separately-established musicians sound as natural as anything they ever made on their own.

Comprised of ex-Sleater Kinney members Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss, Helium’s Mary Timony and Rebecca Cole of The Minders, tonight’s packed show is a Manchester debut for the band, following a string of rapturously-received southern dates just before Christmas. The considerable live experience held by all four members in their own right belies the group’s short lifespan to date; it’s a dazzlingly polished set, with verve in abundance. Their self-titled debut is aired in its entirety, with fans treated to extended guitar jams during ‘Racehorse’ and ‘Romance’, although the inclusion of new tracks, despite sounding already refined, is inevitably met with less enthusiasm. Brownstein, now moonlighting as a musician with hit sketch show Portlandia, now officially her day job, makes the transition from guitarist to frontwoman with real assurance and a host of impressive stage moves, but the real revelation is co-vocalist Timony, who vocally comes into her own in the live arena. They encore with a cover by ‘a British band you should be proud of’ – the Stones’ ‘Beast of Burden’ – and on tonight’s evidence, Portland, Oregon and Washington, D.C. can hold similar sentiments about Wild Flag.

Wild Flag – Electric Band