Fronted by the angelic-voiced and pixie-like Dani, Alloy Ark have been one of my favourite finds of 2009/2010 by far. Their catchy and creative acoustic -pop ditties have shown an important new layer to the modern day ‘pop’ genre – they’ve shown that songs can be both radio friendly and stripped down; both beautiful and commercial…and mostly of all, much like the brilliant Takeda (also Norwich-based) who are signed to my label, they’ve shown that the kids are the ones with all the talent these days.
The first comment to make about Alloy Ark’s EP Launch last week is that they didn’t actually headline it. Weird, huh? I guess it’s the promoter’s way of ensuring he meets his ticket sale targets, but Alloy Ark were granted just a thirty minute set as main support to another band on NRONE Records, The Barlights. When they graced the stage, they were up by two in numbers – the addition of two percussionists, both on full drum kits – and had thrown out the acoustic guitar in favour of an electric one. All very different.
They delivered a lovely set of 2-3 minute songs (too many to count, or I’d give you an exact number – maths tells me it was probably around the 10-12 mark), but unfortunately suffered from badly balanced sound and a rowdy audience. The strange introduction of two drummers playing the exact same thing throughout paired with an electric guitar seemed to overwhelm Dani’s piano and vocals – this being, arguably, the most distinctive aspect of the former two-piece.
Alloy Ark have certainly turned a new corner, and though there were some important criticisms about this night in general, I still think that Dani and Doug are a supremely talented pair, who are striving to find the sound that suits them. It’ll be interesting to see whether they stick with NRONE for EP number two, or whether they’ll turn another corner again, and perhaps select a label that could take them in a different direction. I wait to see what happens with intrigue. Until then, grab yourself a copy of the band’s EP ‘To, The Bottom Of The Sea’ via this link.
