If there is such a thing as Indie Pop, the Shepherds Bush Empire was filled with it on the 6th March. Starting off with Channel 4 battle of the bands winners Envy and Other sins followed by Irish harmonies from The Script and topped off with extremely happy people The Hoosiers. The house was full of girls wearing bunny ears, wonder women capes and fairy wings and all their mothers were at home watching David Attenborough in the knowledge that their little angels were enjoying quirky and wholesome entertainment.
Envy and other sins were well dressed by somebody who might well have raided the wardrobe department of a BBC Edwardian drama. They are nice looking lads, easy on the ear and probably offend very few people out in phone voting land which may have more to do with their victory than being the next big thing. They also may appeal to the girls out there who apparently are the ones who usually pick up the phone or text in their preferences. Envy has a sound of The Feeling but it might just be that they are taking themselves more seriously. Which is a worry really as it’s not very likely that the music industry will and the pop audience that welcomed them at the Bush is notoriously fickle. The can play well, the drummer should get an award for stick twiddling and the band should all go out and roll around in the dirt a bit to get some grit into their sound. Having said that, the last two songs seemed to have a bit more going on bur a bit like their music overall, its hard to recall much about them. Conclusion - it is probably is a better bet for a really good band to make it to the last few rounds of these competitions in order to get some publicity, but then to lose for having too much attitude.
Review by : Stephen Izatt
