:: thatsound :: music bits delivered … with a twist

:papercutz at CCVF (Guimaraes, Portugal)

Led by Bruno Miguel, this experimental electronic pop band got to my ears very recently, and, out of the blue, I got a chance to see their act live yesterday. Their very interesting sonority and depth has been  noticed by Myspace and Vodafone's "Ones to watch" event in the past year, and the presence in the alternatively famous South By Southwest festival increased their fan base to some extent. So, I was quite curious to see if they would be able to bring the mood of Lylac - their debut album - to the (small) stage.

The act was set up by the usual live crew: Bruno Miguel behind the keyboards, samplers and effects and acting as a back voice, Marcela Freitas as the lead singer and Bruno R. playing classical guitar, bass, xylophone and handling some synthesizers. There was some lack of organization within the whole set list display, probably due to the understandable stress and lack of experience. Also, they had some real trouble with the overall sound - most of the times the bass was so pumped up it felt like a lousy trance festival, and at some point they even opted to repeat a song. But these were the bad parts, which I can't blame the band itself for: one can't expect to have a U2-like show on a low budget / few years of live experience, right?

Now for the good things. They really have something good going there. After the first songs (and the first problems) I remember thinking something like Let's just hope they can make it to the second or third album and this will be huge and throughout the show the songs just kept on getting better. Marcela's voice was almost pitch perfect in every song, and it seemed like she really was enjoying the whole thing, bringing happiness to the hard-to-please audience; Bruno seemed a bit worried as the sound issues became clearer but showed he was able to handle the leading role; Bruno's guitar and bass playing were quite impressive (I'm wondering if he has some background as a classical musician, as the technique he displayed was far from the obvious self-taught player). "Do Outro Lado Do Espelho" and "Ultravioleta" were the most beautiful moments of the night, combining Portuguese lyrics with a Lamb-like ambiance and a beautifully crafted set of vocals.

So, to sum it up, Bruno's work entertains, allows us to drift and is setting a new high on many fields in the Portuguese music scene. It's almost impossible not to find Lylac a very attractive album, and I'm quite certain that the charisma, attitude and boldness of their live displays will be boosted with time. I'm hoping to see them in a year and check that!

:papercutz's myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/papercutzed

:papercutz's Lylac first single, "Ultravioleta": http://vimeo.com/1143816