Sky Larkin – Bungalows and Bears, Sheffield 27/09/09

Bungalows and Bears may not be able to facilitate the large crowds that other Sheffield venues can, and it may act as a makeshift watering hole for the local indie-scenester herd to reside around, but it certainly manages to give off a warming conviviality that suits Leeds-based band, Sky Larkin, down to the ground.

Lead-singer, Katie, chirpily leads the band to the stage; herself clad in a vivid orange t-shirt portraying legendary rapper Tupac and with her mousey-brown hair unkemptly pigtailed either side of her face. She promptly kick-starts the trio into their most recent single, ‘Fossil, I’; a quick-paced, harmony-packed tune that succinctly solicits society’s inherent ability to fossilise certain people and times through art: “Open sky, open sky/Give me wind/’cross my face/Fossil, I, Fossil, I”.

Throughout the 11 song set, their banter with the crowd is kept short and sweet, “I thought you’d melted for a second, there”, Katie softy jests with a photographer at one point, who had left a spilt pint in his place after searching for a better camera-angle, and not once do they outstay their welcome, reeling off their songs swiftly and with what seems like a truly joyous vigour. Energy itself is almost personified by self-proclaimed ‘Nestaaargh!’ (Nestor), who never failed in providing an insurmountable amount of passion on the drums, all the while pulling off some of the greatest (read: funniest) ‘drum-faces’ Sheffield has seen for quite some time.

During their set, Sky Larkin use a simple formula but generally manage to avoid being formulaic. As the night progresses, they become increasingly more reminiscent of punk-rock band Sleater Kinney, both in their biting guitar licks and their sharply delivered vocals, which is only fitting considering their album was produced by the same man who produced Sleater Kinney’s classics ‘One Beat’ and ‘All Hands On The Bad One’.

However, what is most apparent, and unique perhaps, is how similar Sky Larkin sound to how they do on CD. Standing by the stage, I could have closed my eyes and, disregarding the rather thunderous difference in volume, easily mistaken them for being on CD. Now, while this may well appeal to certain people’s tastes, for me I felt somewhat indignant to it all; almost as if I had just paid to hear them play their CD through a PA system. Now, thinking back on the best gigs I’ve been to, I notice a trend suggesting that the best performances for me rely on a certain degree of surprise or exploration; when a band or artist manages to take a song you know and cherish dearly and somehow alter it without losing what you initially loved about it, leaving you with that indebted feeling of knowing that you’re one of the few people to experience that first hand. This, sadly, is what Sky Larkin lacked for me. Although their set was tight and they succeeded in making a clamorous sound considering their petite make-up, they just lacked the exhilaration that one gets from seeing a band completely lose themselves in their material.

Although this gig felt like it never truly took off for me, this is not to say that it wasn’t enjoyable. Sky Larkin put in what was altogether a modest and pleasant performance and further highlighted some of the local talent that’s on show in and around Leeds.

Sky Larkin Official Site