Sound It Out! Heat 5: The Watercats, Meadhbh Boyd, Daphne in the Attic

Posted on 3rd Mar 11 by Aine Ingelbach | 8

Last night’s Sound it Out! line up couldn’t have been placed in a better venue. The Roundy House on Castle Street played perfectly to the extremely differing sounds of The Watercats, Meadhbh Boyd and the M.A.S, and Daphne in the Attic.

First out of the gates were The Watercats. Automatically you could see that these guys were relaxed on stage, the rapport with the audience was the best of the night and the female vocalist bantered away between songs and explained how they came about.

Musically The Watercats could be compared to a good glass of wine. The first sip is slow to start off as your tastebuds react to the infusion of fruity and bitter but soon you find the experience extremely more-ish and way too soon you find the bottle empty. To translate, replace the words fruity and bitter with amazing, almost vamping style guitar melodies playing off each other and bitter with emotional vocals truly leading the audience to believe the life experience portrayed in the music and lyrics.

Lyrically they were mellow and easy and tended to show emotion and thought behind them. They were clever to the point of a comparison to the like of Leonard Cohen or Tracey Chapman. It’s a hard niche to gain access to but once there it’s the grouping where no matter what the music will make the song but the lyrics and vocal style will bring the chilling to the bone.

Undeniably one of the better songs of the night was the uptempo ‘Beast’ which brought out a bouncy side to the crowd and reflected the abilities of the group and the way they react to each other, however the best song they played to describe how this band entertain was the song inspired by Chief Broom from ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’. With its morose intro and Eleanor Rigby-ish syle lyrics its one track that caught me of guard and almost left me with the feeling of a punch in the stomach.

All in all a great set, and a group I would go see again.

Second to tempt the musical tastebuds of the audience were Meadhbh Boyd and the M.A.S (or the Mutual Appreciation Society) and delight they did. If the Watercats were a glass of wine, this group was a bowl of punch, full of bite but the mixture is always changing. No glass is ever the same but each and every one of them as each of this groups songs whet the mouth and the hangover the next morning is shamefull. In other words I woke up with these guys music running through my head on loop, namely the song ’Confrontations’.

From the bass-y sounding piano to the amazing drumbeats in odd time signatures this bands music gives more to the audience than feelings or emotion, they provide an experience. Liken it to a rollercoaster in the dark with way too many loops going backwards. You don’t know whats coming next, it thrills yet terrifies you with its lack of reason but nothing will match it once its over.

This band’s music is tight, they blow you over with vocal harmonies going acapella in a certain song. ‘Instrumental’ shows how it works with no words but these guys using their amazing vocal abilities to keep a crowd entranced. The stage presence and comraderie these four have is amazing and blends in the most integral parts to form the most solid of unions. Considering the short time frame together and lack of live experience behind them what they can do is nothing short of amazing.

‘Smelly Defeat’ is a song for women everywhere. It lifts the room and throws back suffragette images with lyrics showing the confidence women should have but only a friend can portray to you.  It’s a female getting back at the word, but will strike every female as someone taking a stance against what we all go trough everyday and where it matters most.

So women of the world, if you want something to lift you up and something men will listen to and also enjoy, or, if your musical and want to spend some time with your jaw hanging open in shock clue yourselves in and follow the forthcoming adventures of Meadhbh Boyd and the M.A.S. more than likely coming to an area near you soon.

And finally this writer leads you to Daphne in the Attic. With their bass player incruing what could be described as technical difficulties of the ability kind these guys masqueraded their faults and laid blunt their strengths.

With amazing string lines and intertwining guitar lines the mesmeric of their abilities wasn’t enough to keep the audience held. Being honest I have seen this act play before. Before the gig I announced to my friends they were what you get when you put the Dave Matthews Band, a really good bluegrass band and a bucket of acid in a blender.Unfortunately last night it was more a freezer with all of them going through cryogenics.

Yes this band can play, yes their line up has changed in the last few weeks, and yes, they do have good presence, their downfall was they just didn’t bring the Daphne factor.

This band is definitely more about melodies and intermarrying strings than vocals and their style is unique. Their drummer is amazing at what he does and contributes hugely, and seeing a cello on stage is always exciting. The cracks did show though. It was obvious that they need more showmanship. They lead from track to track with as little talking in between as possible. The crowd seemed a little lost and not in a good way. So the only thing I have to say is next time please don’t leave Daphne in The Attic, set it on fire and let her storm out guns blazing as you last night subtly hinted at and I personally know she can!

All in all to sum up, the night in Drop-d‘s mind belonged to Meadhbh Boyd and the M.A.S. Roll on the encore.

Tags: Daphne in the Attic, Maedhbh Boyd, Sound It Out!, The Roundy, The Watercats