Exlovers @ The Portland Arms, Cambridge
Having heard a handful of Exlovers recorded material through MySpace and the other usual internet means I was finding it hard to really lay my finger on what space this band was trying to fill. Always frustratingly lo-fi to the point that the music sounds like a flat pancake behind the main focus of the two lead vocals from Peter Scott (also lead guitar) and Laurel Sills, there was never quite enough punch in the songs to make the tunes stand up.
This is all quickly forgotten though when the band take to the small cramped stage in a back room of a Cambridge pub on a wet Friday night. I was surprised to find that Exlovers actually are a band and the sums of their parts make them are far more exciting proposition than their current recorded catalogue would have you believe. Second guitarist Chris Woodhead delivers the energy that Scott’s and Sills’ vocals will not allow, often throttling his guitar while hunched and shaking out every drip of sound that his guitar is willing to give up.
What Exlovers end up sounding like is a more deadpan Pains of Being Pure at Heart, more English reserve and darker moments but with the same persistent rhythms and deceptively catchy tunes. The duet vocals are hushed and almost mumbled which give a charming feeling of innocence and vulnerability, and while the music does occasionally follow suit, when a really strong chorus comes in like on ‘You Forget So Easily’ or ‘Photobooth’, the delicacy is washed away with cocky self belief.
While Exlovers are hardly the finished article, their recorded material and awkward shuffling around mid songs proves that, they are an exciting proposition. And if the success of Pains of Being… is anything to go by then this is the perfect time for them to make a serious push for peoples affections.