Tu Fawning – Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, London 10/03/11

Tu Fawning are one of those rare bands that defy easy categorisation. Sure, at various points they recall a number of different acts from across the musical spectrum, but their influences and touchstones are so diverse that it’s difficult to pigeonhole them into one genre or style.

At heart, their music can be broadly defined as indie-pop underpinned with a gothic aesthetic, but there’s more to them than that. At times, they sound like a vaudeville Menomena; clattering percussion and jagged, staccato guitar lines, married to a manic, brassy energy that’s one part New Orleans marching band, one part Man Man.

At other times, they take a stripped back, darkly atmospheric direction more reminiscent of Portishead, St. Vincent or Holly Miranda. But regardless of who they sound like, there’s no denying they put on a great live show. Recalling the giddy days of early Architecture In Helsinki (before they became po-faced and shit) there’s reckless cowbell usage, random sojourns into the audience and instrument-swapping galore. But significantly, the gimmickry serves to augment an already solid musical foundation, rather to distract from a paucity of good tunes – a principle, alas, that too many bands are oblivious to.

There’s moments where their arrangements come across as overambitious for a four-piece, but that’s no sin; for surely it’s better to stumble trying to do something different than not bother at all.