The new band find of Guilfest 2009?
Saturday’s extensive flyering seems to have paid off as, even though it’s 12 o’clock on Sunday, the Rock Sound Cave is looking pretty busy. The Intraverse marketing machine hasn’t stopped with flyers however, as people walk around the crowd making sure demo CDs are distributed which is all good groundwork, let’s just hope the effort is rewarded by a decent set, not least as an early breakfast has been taken to ensure attendance.
It’s a confident bit of teamwork all round as those who’ve turned up are treated to one of the most impressive shows of the weekend in this tent, especially so given the hit and miss nature of watching bands you no nothing about this early in the day.
Front man Max turns in as engaging a performance as we’ve seen all weekend, there’s some interesting guitar work on show including the appearance of an ebow for extra trickery, plus, today’s drummer is a stand in due to illness in the ranks: the Intraverse live show is no less slick for it.
The two tracks to especially stand out were second song ‘The Message’ which is a funky rock number in the style of Cage the Elephant or early Kings of Leon, and the brilliantly catchy ‘Little Old You’ which brought the set to an excellent climax. The latter included an irresistible guitar hook which wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a U2 track, although the song itself leans more towards the softer, radio targeted end of Funeral For A Friend. Occasionally you hear a song from a little-known band which you can instantly imagine all over daytime radio; ‘Little Old You’ is just such a tune.
Intraverse found the time for one or two heavier songs, and certainly left this reviewer wanting more as they left the stage: excellent work.