Sometime back in 2006, The Sunshine Underground released the most criminally underrated album of the year in the shape of ‘Raise The Alarm’.
It was a record that acted as the mid-way point between Klaxons’ nu-rave heroics and Kasabian’s lad rock psychedelia. The resulting singles found their way onto indie dance floors nationwide and saw the Leeds four-piece teeter on the brink of the mainstream.
Strange then, that three years later and we still have no new material from which to judge them on. That is until tonight. Upstairs in the club venue of 53 Degrees can sometimes host the most riotous of acts in an intimate setting, however The Sunshine Underground have decided to play a set comprising of mostly new unheard songs.
Lucky then that nearly all of them are cracking. Like a pint of Guinness or any other cliché that you care to mention, there’s no rushing these boys- the first song aired, ‘Coming To Save You’, is an anthem in similar vein to their previous output. Let’s get things straight from the beginning; if you liked them first time round, you’re going to love them now. And if you weren’t too keen…well you’re not going to change your mind any time soon.
When approaching that ‘difficult second album’, in the last couple of years we’ve seen The Sunshine Underground’s contemporaries not quite managing to hit the heights of their debut; The View unsuccessfully added strings, CSS turned in a lethargic and lazy effort and well The Enemy presumably decided they didn’t enjoy their careers anymore and churned out a woeful second cut.
There shouldn’t be any such problems on tonight’s evidence though as ‘Spun It Out, ‘In Your Arms’ and ‘Your Friends’ in particular sound more muscular than ‘Raise The Alarm’s offerings.
As expected there are four songs which bring the roof down tonight, ‘Commercial Breakdown’ causes pandemonium, ‘Wake Up’ sees its dancehall undertones transformed into a full-blooded disco behemoth.
On the flip of a coin though Craig Wellington can turn the crowd from lairy (half of the audience tonight could be described as ‘ard’) to melancholic. The first verse and chorus of ‘Borders’ is turned into a call and response epic and a glorious chant of “You’ve gotta fight for a reason/What’s your reason/You never cared” can surely be heard by those residing for a Monday evening drink in The Mad Ferret.
In fairness, the audience go mental for most of the set, new or old and as per usual the band on stage knows what buttons to press: “Preston, you’re the best” and “Preston women are always the fittest” providing some of the highlights.
Naturally, the rest of the set is a precursor for the final three and a half minute assault on the senses. Not to say The Sunshine Underground are a one-song band but ‘Put You In Your Place’ is an aural extravaganza once again. During their absence, the song has lost none of its bilious quality- still it remains an incessant barrage of crunching guitars layered upon a rave backdrop. The best thing they have ever done by far (and one of the best songs of 2006).
On tonight’s evidence, 2009 could be the year The Sunshine Underground break through into public consciousness. And if that’s not quite the case, the festival circuit will most certainly be theirs for the taken.
No longer are The Sunshine Underground part of a ‘Dead Scene’.
Lee Sentino
