Gig review: The Dears, Glasgow

Published on Friday 22 April 2011 21:36

THE DEARS KING TUT'S, GLASGOW ***

FOLLOWING several years of internal strife, Montreal's The Dears have consolidated both their line-up, welcoming old hands back into the fold, and their sound – on stunning comeback album Degeneration Street. Trouble is that not many people have cottoned on to its majesty just yet so this music, which deserves to be resonating round larger theatres, is being showcased in club venues instead.

The band themselves needed to be more convincing to win converts. While there were moments during this show which threatened to convey that epic brilliance – often coinciding with Patrick Krief letting rip on the guitar – there were just as many when the players seemed lost in their own insular world, sharing a private joke.

The performance felt more like a good-natured, informal warm-up than the last night of their do-or-die tour. Frontman Murray Lightburn, the self-styled "humble narrator", would often rev up the receptive audience to the point where they might reasonably expect to be knocked flat by the momentum but were greeted instead with dead air while someone fiddled with a guitar strap or a lead.

Their sound was pleasing overall – the bouncy Strokes-like number Yesteryear showcased their way with a hook, for example. But The Dears are surely capable of making a more sustained impact. The opening Omega Dog was a tantalising taster of their power, escalating from a lean, funky riff to a six-(wo)man maelstrom over five minutes. The Dears have got it, so they should flaunt it.