Tigerfest: Fourteenhours / Viva Stereo @ The Loft
Delving into the unknown doesn't always produce positive results.
| 10 Jul 2007
The beauty of live music often lies in those moments when an unexpected waft of soul-juddering sound floods your eardrums. But delving into the unknown does not always produce positive results – as tonight's Tigerfest offering regretfully proves. A Very Secret History's last minute withdrawal (unfortunately due to a member's ill health) fails to set the show off on a good foot and opening act Fourteenhours (2/5) struggle to lighten the tone of The Loft's cavernous surroundings. Full of jangling hooks and up-tempo pop ditties, the Edinburgh quartet lacks the punch or vibrancy to inject any life into a languid Jam-inspired set that borders on monotonous. At least Viva Stereo (3/5) manage to blast away the cobwebs with the surging sound of their Primal Scream-esque digital punk. Bereft of a live percussionist's pulsating velocity, this energetic performance still suggests a bright future for these local electro-experimentalists once a few technical glitches have been attended to. [Billy Hamilton]