Fresh-faced thirteen year olds attending their first gig rub
shoulders with seasoned rockers, forming the biggest motley crew imaginable and
packing out Stylus for the men of the hour: Django Django. As the band appears,
resplendent in piano key shirts and Christmas jumpers, they are decidedly
uncool. All of that is about to change, as lead singer Vincent Neff picks up a
tambourine and wields it like a talisman, entrancing the crowd as he waves it
back and forth for ‘Hail Bop’. All of a sudden, the four gawky lads stood on
stage are transformed into magicians, placing the audience under a spell as
they weave their way through an incredibly varied set.
Django Django prove themselves to be more inventive than
just another indie electro band. ‘Love’s Dart’ featured the make-shift use of a
cardboard box as a drumset and coconuts as percussion; paired with an acoustic
guitar, it provides a lulling contrast to the preceding ‘Reflections’.
They also expand outside of their generic bounds with ‘Slow
West’; written for the Michael Fassbender film of the same name, it’s the
closest the band will ever come to a Mumford & Sons-esque vibe without
swapping their synths for banjos.
The most striking thing about Django Django is how much
their performance suddenly puts their albums into context. As recordings, it’s
easy to see how, objectively, they are undoubtedly quite good, but not hugely
impressive or memorable. Live, they are electrifying. Where on the album,
tracks like ‘Skies over Cairo’ are repetitive, when performed, you never want
them to end.
The band’s own enthusiasm during the show is infectious.
Carried through by the mesmerising drum beats, the band enter their own
trance-like world which, rather than excluding the audience, pulls them in
further.
Django Django: indie rock’s nice guys changing your life one
strobe light at a time.
