Wan Light
Live @ Camden Barfly, London, 05/10/05
Wan Light started their set at the ridiculously early time of 8:15, to a mostly empty Barfly. This band is the perfect hybrid of Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips. I hate to use clichés but it's true, and such a comparison is not a bad thing at all. The singer has a voice made out of a combination of sandpaper and glue, whilst the samples the band use are like a slightly more toned down version of modern day Flaming Lips, using the sound of hands clapping in place of Japanese robots. Tonight, just two members of the band play, with the singer back backed by an acoustic guitar player and some sparse samples. The effect of this is that greater emphasis is put on the actual performance of the songs. Momus, half-jokingly coined the genre "folk-tronica" back in 2001 but the live performance from Wan Light proves that the genre is in existence and rude health.
- Nick Levine