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Made in Shoreditch

I also contribute a weekly column to Made in Shoreditch magazine called 'Old East End/New East End', where I look at the relationship between the East End of old and new, looking at the changes and the stalwarts in landscape, residents and culture, focussing on one street or district each week. You can find it here.

Unsigned Call From Over Hadrian’s Wall: Act 2 - Crow Road

Monday 21 March 2011

If mainstream, popular indie is what you want, then that is what you get with Crow Road. In fact if it isn’t what you want that’s what you get anyway, and you get the feeling these guys make no bones about what they are.

Comparisons have been made to Vampire Weekend and The View, but this band has more in common with indie bands with loftier aspirations. Crow Road, in fact, sound a lot like a Caledonian Kings of Leon. Though it is fair to say that the band maybe don’t have the blues and country as rooted into their sound as Kings of Leon, the fact that the down-home music of America has so much in common with Celtic folk music must be pointed out. Crow Road’s folk inspired sound has all the hallmarks of KoL’s blues inspired sound. So, as it is, front man Paul Gibson’s blue note-heavy, primal scream therapy vocal timbre is extremely comparable to that of Caleb Followill. Gibson’s rather pronounced Scottishness has a similarity to Folowill’s rather pronounced Confederate State voice.


Crow Road

Musically, the band has a sound which is like nothing you’ve heard before… that is, if you’ve been set under a cave in Africa with only the sound of banging two rocks together as your sole sonic entertainment. Yes, these Glaswegians do generally stick to the tried and tested formula of a bit of jangly guitar, standard form and structure and catchy choruses. This is no bad thing, however. Crow Road have a way with a tune and if Shrivels and Peaks fails to get your toes-a-tapping then Panda Season will certainly do the job. They don’t mind showing off their softer side either, with Rebecca’s Song being a lovely little melancholic number which showcases the harsh beauty of Gibson’s voice and guitar playing against the talents of lead guitarist Jamie Turner.

Crow Road have all of the ingredients that are necessary to go on to Killer’s style indie domination. Their polished indie rock certainly has a market. Working out where they go from here is their choice and if they decide to keep up the good work and keep banging out sing-along indie, then one feels destiny has a lucrative and fame-drenched future waiting for them. Crow Road have the necessary cogs; they just have to make sure that their machine keeps chugging away.

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