Toy Horses - Ten Feet Tall, Cardiff - 6th March 2012 (Live Review)
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Written by V O'Hagan
Step-dads, eh? If they’re not hogging the remote control and sleeping with your mum, they’re rocking out on a ukulele whilst you’re trying to sing about lost love.
Cardiff-based indie band Toy Horses don’t seem to mind. Consisting of Tom Williams and his step-son Adam Franklin, Toy Horses are an inter-generational musical wonder. They’ve earned themselves a loyal fanbase with their perky, melodic sound, and have even garnered a few celebrity admirers. ‘Clever fucking guy’ Mr Stephen Fry has pronounced them as his new favourite band, and TV presenter Dermot O’Leary regularly shuts himself in his X Factor dressing room with the Toy Horses album and an Evian bottle full of vodka, the sweat of Alexandra Burke’s handshake still lingering wet on his palm. “Out, damn’d spot!” he cries, wiping his hand across his suit trousers, but still it remains.
Toy Horses were good enough to play a gig for us last week at intimate Cardiff venue Ten Feet Tall. The club bristled with fans of all ages, willing to pay the extortionate drinks prices just so they could get drunk to some decent music. As Rusty Shackle finished up after their truly barn-storming set, Toy Horses took to the stage. Adam, who looks even younger than his twenty-one years stood doe-eyed in the spotlights wearing a quilted jacket, like an apple-cheeked farmhand whose workday is going to be seriously hindered by his pointy shoes. His step-dad Tom, who bears a vague resemblance to Jamie Hince as seen from afar, adjusts his trilby and straps on a groovy-looking ukulele.
They open with 'Damage Done'; a song that must have been borne out of repeated listens to the Beatles 'Revolver', and follow with first song of the album 'Play What You Want'. There’s no getting around it, 'Play What You Want' is an absolutely stunning indie-pop song. It gets huge chunks of the audience singing along and nodding their heads, and if the crowd had been drunker I think there may have even been some dancing. 'And It Was You' is a pretty, melodic little tune, and 'Sordid Little World' is a sensitive lyrical song that makes the venue turn wistful.
The encore consists of Toy Horses most memorable tunes, 'But What About The Future' and 'Interrupt'. Both songs are so memorable and charming that they feel like they’ve been part of musical culture forever. 'But What About The Future' is a perfect sing-along song, lyrically Pulp-ish ("say I take a test online some day, and the results say I might be 42% gay") and chicken-pox catchy. The chorus in particular gets the whole venue singing along, united by the IQ of Stephen Fry.
It’s difficult to describe Toy Horses' sound without referencing their obvious influences. Because of the different generations involved with the song-writing (a forty-year-old and a twenty-one-year-old) they have an unmistakable Beatles/Kinks vibe infused with the more modern, ramshackle elements of bands like The Libertines and The Indelicates. At times their live sound is much heavier than their recorded sound, and they are polished, professional live performers. Tom and Adam are both multi-instrumentalists and they take turns with different instruments, flitting easily between guitars and keyboards. They voices blend together beautifully as they harmonise, and both men are lucky enough to have distinctly characterful voices.
One of the most endearing things about Toy Horses is that their sound has a hard-to-put-my-finger-on-yet-unmistakable British quality to it. I’m aware of the irony in proclaiming that Britain needs an antidote to the Vaccines, but Toy Horses make me feel nostalgic for the witty, playful, colourful music that Britain seems to do so well.
This is a band with humour and heart. So if you’re pining for a playful melody and you’re lucky enough for Toy Horses to be playing near you, I wholeheartedly urge you to see this band in their glory. They’re fantastic live performers, masterful song-writers, and they write lyrics that might actually mean something to somebody. If that doesn't convince you, then buy a ticket to help fund their next album, at least. I think they might be keeping Dermot O’Leary alive.
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They open with 'Damage Done'; a song that must have been borne out of repeated listens to the Beatles 'Revolver', and follow with first song of the album 'Play What You Want'. There’s no getting around it, 'Play What You Want' is an absolutely stunning indie-pop song. It gets huge chunks of the audience singing along and nodding their heads, and if the crowd had been drunker I think there may have even been some dancing. 'And It Was You' is a pretty, melodic little tune, and 'Sordid Little World' is a sensitive lyrical song that makes the venue turn wistful.
