Review: Foe @ Buffalo Bar
Foe
Buffalo Bar
Monday 23rd January 2012
The decor and atmosphere of Buffalo’s upstairs bar lends itself to indie, grungy and quirky gigs alike with it’s deep red decor, vintage black and white posters and ‘What the F***?’ neon sign upon entry. Such surroundings complimented Foe’s moody sounds and bass heavy, often haunting tunes, adding to the gritty, art house vibe emanating from this stylish four piece. From the strong lyrics to the heart-thumping drums and resonating bass, Foe’s presence was full of vitriol and psychedelic undertones.
What was unexpected was the presentation of the band. The media surrounding Foe led you to expect a quirky singer-songwriter with a penchant for wigs and overly arty performance; yet, instead we were faced with a relatively normal but beautiful woman with aqua streaks in her hair and a Tasmanian Devil t-shirt. Her stage presence was more Cobain than Gaga as she led the band with occasional guitar playing and DJing mixed with her killer vocals.
The haunting backing tracks were mixtures of melodic singing, yelling and chimes giving the overall experience a very Pink Floyd vibe. These helped the songs blur into one another seamlessly as if one were listening to a scratchy vinyl for the first time, each song melding into one another without track listings or ‘shuffle’.
Sadly, the beginning of the evening was marred by the addition of Cafe Zurich to the line-up. Whilst an undoubtedly well-rehearsed group of musicians; their image was amateur and childish, each musician moving to their own unique beat while the audience struggled to discern what instruments were actually playing and what were part of the 80s-style synthesised backing track. The singer started off well but lost tune halfway through the mercifully short set and was undermined by the flat backing singing of the keyboardist. The songs were well written and had a very studio quality to them, however they seemed too clean and ‘school disco’ to warm up for such a well formed and musically mature band as Foe.
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