The Research @ the Old Blue Last

OK, so Fringey is in 'Shoreditch' theme pub, the Old Blue Last, and its rake thin pretty boys with shiny hair and skinny jeans everywhere you turn.
(Oh, I wants one. Maybe get a matching set? And make nice earrings??)

Anyway, we’re here to see The Research do the first of their 3 album launch gigs. But in support we have ABSENTEE. Who have a BRASS section, no less! Which works brilliantly when used, but in the rest of their set they tend to trail off into a dull stoner drone. (Or am I just being very impatient?)

Then suddenly it’s all goes a bit “scene”, we can spot boys from other bands, band managers and club promoters scattered and drapped all over the shop (hats! hats! hats! everywhere I look! hats!). It’s not a very big room, I suspect that luce and I are the only people who have actually paid to get into this thing. And there’s a lot of love in the room for the Research.

For THE RESEARCH are: kooky, quirky, quizzical, oddball, off-beat, off-the-wall, geeky, idiosyncratic, peculiar, quaint, unconventional and whimsical, but not TWEE.

"Good God no, don’t put them into a TWEE GHETTO" - their fans cry.

But they are very twee aren’t they? With lo fi indie pop songs about broken relationships? Played on a bashed about casio keyboard? I should say so. Its the lo fi that gets on my nerves, get some decent production and learn to play properly, then you can make the whole world go *POP* with those tunes.

Twee is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

Luce Fringey said: