DIM

The Wave Pictures

15.4.09 - Institute of Contemporary Arts, London

"Planet Earth were really good," says Wave Pictures drummer Jonny 'Huddersfield' Helm. "They were really... good." Planet Earth were meant to be joined in support by An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump, to form a Moshi Moshi showcase at the ICA. Unfortunately, uh, the three girls of 'AEOABITAP' (it'll catch on) pulled out, and so the set timings are moved forward - that, and my enthusiastic best friend falling quite ill at the last minute (she's okay now), mean I just catch The Wave Pictures. The Pictures have a way with love songs, and so, yeah, going with yr beloved is advised, especially in a crowd of couples. But they play for fun, too, as you can tell by the guitar solos of first album 'Instant Coffee Baby', which make up a lot of the setlist. I don't miss bassist Franic Rozycki singing - for the first time on stage, according to lead vocalist / guitarist David Tattersall - as encouraged by a few swigs of something and banter regarding the contents of his underpants. His deep voice, the two drum solos woven into 'I Love You Like A Madman', David's string break whilst "rocking out" on 'Leave The Scene Behind' - fun. Jonny actually has to reaffirm, in his now standard (check Youtube) introduction to 'Now You Are Pregnant', that "It's actually a really sad song." Mixed in are some less identifiable new songs, including the new album's lead single and title track, 'If You Leave It Alone' - a snippet of what looks like a sadder and longer type of Wave Pictures love song. Franic and Jonny also amalgamate their voices to try and atone for the lack of the "beautiful woman" that David had written 'In Your Own Sweet Time' to duet with. Credit to the cohesive unit the Pictures are - they may not currently be able to afford to tour with a 'beautiful woman', yet it still stands out as, well, a lovely pop song. Jonny forgets some words on a new song, David whispers them to him; David seems to start off playing the wrong chord during 'Stawberry Cables' (re-recorded for the 'second album', that is actually less a 'second album' and more like the second to be released on Moshi Moshi, and the most recent recorded output from a band that has been fairly prolific since around 2005); he laughs, and counters that "It was jazzy". They end the set with the favourite 'Long Island' as requested, before coming back out to end the night proper with a new song which they all sing. And so it was throughout the set - on 'Strange Fruit For David', all three of them stand stock still to declare, "A sculpture is a sculpture, marmalade is marmalade - and a sculpture of marmalade is a sculpture, but it isn't marmalade." "Ladies and gentlemen," then - at times, acapella; at all times, fun; The Wave Pictures always!