The Thermals
Where: Ruby Lounge, Manchester
When: 21st June 2009
Can you fall in love in 2:52 seconds? Nevertheless, I’ve fallen in head-over-heels, jaw breaking infatuation (call it what you will) with a bassist named Kathy Foster and I don’t care who knows it. She so energetically mime-sung 'I Called Out Your Name', “vision in a blur, voice in a slur, crying in the rain, one thing I knew, baby it was you, I called out your name” last night in Manchester that she captured my heart and head. With bouncy, sing-a-long anthems that transport you to the prawn cocktail Wotsit favoured, fall in love in a day events in teenager-hood, The Thermals create uplifting encapsulating pop rock streaked with confused cynicism.
One press release for their latest album, ‘Now We Can See’ pitches a liberal, grass smokin’, Obama hailin’ ideology for the threesome, but amongst the Kill Rock Stars written buzz-hype, The Thermals seem defiantly rooted in the youth culture of the 90s. With references to Pinkerton and The Breeders’ ‘Last Splash’, with green sports shirts, brown beads and baggy pants in tow, Foster, Glass and Harris from Portland, Oregon, blast out catchy Cannonballs with great Pavement-esque lyrics and incredibly Brian Molko vocals. Having supported The Cribs in their February tour, (convolutedly because the sometime Thermals and Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks bassist Joanna Bolme is married to Gary Jarman, who now both live in Portland) The Thermals have a ferocious fan base in Manchester as they drive through the set list, with tracks from 2003’s More Parts Per Million, 2006’s The Body, The Blood, The Machine and 2009’s Now We Can See.
There’s little differentiation within the setlist, as all tracks exist as three-minute grunge-pop stomps. Stand out tracks; ‘Pillar Of Salt’ and ‘Now We Can See’ get the audience going, in a rare English audience stir – no crossed arms and reflective glances to be seen. As central figures within the thriving Portland indie scene, surrounded by Elliot Smith, Sleater-Kinney, Shaky Hands, Panther and Horse Feathers, The Thermals are great catalysts for happy pop action and, at least, provide an antidote to our gloom within the banker’s mess. Sing, “Now we can see, What do we need, We should need nothing, Nothing at all, Yeaaah!”
Words: Alice White
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Reply #1 on : Fri September 18, 2009, 17:46:09