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Friday, 9 May 2014

Gig Review... Wild Cub @ Oslo, Hackney, 7th May 2014

On Wednesday night, Oslo in Hackney played host to two emerging talents from the US. Wild Cub made the venue their home on the next stop of their UK tour and brought fellow Nashvillian’s Escondido along to jam too.

Before there was any glimpse of Wild Cub, Escondido took to stage to give us a taste of what they’re all about. The duo, Jessica Maros and Tyler James, stick to their American roots and blend together folk and country twangs. The addition of the trumpet in ‘Evil Girls’ morphs the song into a Tarantino-esque soundtrack, found lonely in the corner of a saloon bar. Other stand out track, ‘Cold October’ brought together the smooth melodies and Tyler James’ dry humour in between songs made an instant connection with the audience.


Wild Cub took to the stage with more of a bang and an electrifying opening of ‘Shapeless’ saw lead singer Keegan DeWitt scoot and shuffle across the floor, with moves that could rival Friendly Fires’ Ed Macfarlane. Everything flowed through him as the quintet followed up with latest single, ‘Colour’, before ‘Black Tide’ gave us flashbacks of a glittering 80s synth. Here DeWitt took to the two drums at the front of the stage for the first time of the evening. The ferocity through his beating would’ve worried any fan that they’d soon be hit by a stick, had they not been dancing so vivaciously. 

Each track brought a new twist to the ‘Wild Cub sound’ that they themselves had firmly established over a twelve song set. A band who have become well established in America and now await for their debut album to drop in the UK, gave the crowd several flavours of what’s on the record. ‘Wild Light’ turned the dusky room into one oozing with hawaiian vibes and jaunty limbs, while ‘Wishing Well’ followed with various funky guitars which led to a more dramatic climax, similar to what you’d find on Two Door Cinema Club’s ‘Beacon’. ‘Drive’ is the only real down-tempo song in the whole show and even that opens up a new level to them, with heavy drums and a Kings Of Leon kind of atmosphere about it. DeWitt tells the crowd that a tornado prevented them from playing with Vampire Weekend just a week ago before heading into their cover of Lykke Li’s, ‘I Follow Rivers’, which with it’s trembling rhythms and quavering vocals sounded as if it could’ve been plucked deep from a Vampire Weekend archive itself.


As the night draws to a close, the crowd are hit with ‘Thunder Clatter’, which brings around more summer nostalgia rather than rainy days and clattering storms. Everyone in the room knows this one and the enthusiasm runs parallel between band and crowd. ‘Summer Fires’ ends the show with it’s ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ type opening. It’s a grower, as DeWitt’s angst expands from small jitters to full on stamping and fist pumps. By the end of the set three of the five band members have taken to drums and snapped drum sticks finally begin to fly. 


The fun and energetic package that is Wild Cub are too big to contain, and soon enough their live shows will be ones which will scoop them out of the US, and introduce their sound to the whole world.

Wild Cub played:
Shapeless
Colour
Blacktide
Jonti
Hidden In The Night
Wild Light
Wishing Well
Drive
I Follow Rivers
Lies
Thunder Clatter
Summer Fires

Joshua Shreeve (@JJShreeve)

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