The southern band signed to the cultish French
dance label Kitsune step out in Manchester to
a crowd that was so sparse you could have filled
the small room with lead (a dense metal). After
faffing with a projector which ends up being abandoned
the three young and scruffy gents step out about
twenty minutes late and proceed to play through
their brilliant debut album Native To.
After walking around the bar it seems somewhat
bizarre that they come on stage wearing bandannas
covering their mouths, but then we all love a
bit of fake mystery I suppose, maybe it’s
integral to their sound in some vital way that
every spectator in the room’s missing. It
doesn’t affect their performance though
as they shout and banter their way through a relentless
set.
The crowd which barely half fills the room, and
the majority of them are sat down, is subdued
to say the least as the band crank out ‘What???’,
‘Zombie’ and ‘Lies’ amongst
others, but their between song pleas of, “Come
and dance” work a treat as the crowd flees
to the bar and the dance-floor. The banter is
one of Is Tropical’s strongest aspects as
they invite people for sleepovers and other things
that are quite clearly never going to happen,
but feel so genuine. They play their instruments
hard twiddling the synthesiser knobs and clicking
their laptop buttons like their arms might fall
off if they stop. ‘Seasick Mutiny’
shows off their skill as they rock back and forth
between guitars, machines, and some power drumming
for the classy, enigmatic, primarily instrumental
number.
Hits ‘The Greek’ and ‘Land of
the Nod’ go down best with the fans finally
understanding this is superb music to dance to
and then dancing. One fan though had no trouble
understand what this band do best as he got his
funk on to every single track without fail. The
young gent adorned in his Cosmo Jarvis shirt was
alone and unafraid as everyone else laughed, clearly
in jealousy, at the brave and frankly fierce guy.
Is Tropical should hire this man a crowd enhancer
because every eye in that place was on him for
longer than it was on the people on the stage
and that’s just a fact.
Somewhere between a DJ set and gig Is Tropical
aren’t yet the performers they need to be
to excite, luckily they have the tunes to carry
them through their learning curve.
Is Tropical 3/5
Review By Lauren Mullineaux
|
