The revolution continues for Broken Records.
There may at times be a natural distrust of Edinburgh folk in Glasgow but on the whole, there is a lot more tolerance and admiration between the cities than will generally be noted and Broken Records are testimony to this. King Tuts welcomes a hell of a lot of good bands throughout the course of a year and sees many appreciative crowds but the one that sees a local(ish) band riding high on the joy of releasing their debut album is surely one of the most rapturous.
Its a wide stage as opposed to a deep stage at King Tuts and getting all of the band on with their instruments is a tight squeeze but utterly essential for the act, who have some major and anthemic moments in their arsenal. The tempo and power builds throughout the set as opposed to hitting you right away so it may have taken a while to get really interesting for the uninitiated but if you are thinking ahead for the summer festival circuit, Broken Records are definitely going to be the choice of the thinking person for many an afternoon slot. Whether on an outdoor stage or enclosed in a tent, there is a woozy and ethereal feel to some of the material which will make it sound familiar to even the Broken Records virgin. This familiarity has probably led some reviews to liken the band to one or two bands in particular but given that they now have their own album out, the band appears to be getting a little uppity about some of these comparisons. Mind you, this sort of snobbishness is nothing less than what should be expected from Edinburgh folk but they may well have a point and its time for people to start viewing (and hearing) them in their own right.
Its fair to say that the accordion hasn’t featured too highly in popular music since Jimmy Shand (if you ignore the ever individualistic Fence Collective) and its the mix of sea shanty with poppy upbeat melodies that does more than most to mark Broken Records as an act in their own right. The vocals can sometimes veer into that pleading and unattractive style wrung out by Frandan Healey of Travisty over the years but we can forgive Broken Records that one discretion considering the rest of their set was so good, musically this band are firing on all cylinders at the moment and if you get the chance to catch them on the rest of the tour, fill your boots.