aaamusic | On 30, Sep 2010

The most important thing to note about Performance’s latest effort ‘Red Brick Heart’ is that is a phenomenal record. This is music at its best, music to lose yourself in and music to make you find light at the end of a particularly dark tunnel. This should be no surprise to any avid followers of Performance but for those new to the band, this record comes at the end of a very difficult journey involving problems with their label, romance gone band and the slight issue of their front man becoming an internationally published novelist!

One might think that this would have the effect of tearing the band apart; one listen to ‘Red Brick Heart’ will change your mind. This album is a well crafted masterpiece of pop songs that would not be out of place at any indie disco and genuinely does want you make want to dance.

Stretch’s vocals are the focal point for much of the album and his voice rings out like a mix between the regional tones of Murph from the Wombats and the social satire of Jarvis Cocker. The vocals are backed up exceptionally by keyboards that will make the hairs on your arms stand up and wonderfully crafted bass lines.
The lyrics are a mixture of melancholy and confession that tell a different story to the upbeat, anthemic sound that the band manages to produce on this record. It is an interesting juxtaposition that has a more profound influence than perhaps one would expect, leaving the feeling that there is something slightly dark at the core of the record. However, rather than the album becoming Stretch’s own personal pity party, the album is, for the most part, optimistic and proof of Stretch’s own view that there is “no happiness without melancholy.” It is clear even in the lyrics of the album that Stretch is an exceptional writer. Every song uses inventive syntax and uses similes in a way that make you consider the often unextraordinary subject matter in an entirely new way. “I miss you like a language” from ‘Love’ is the perfect example of the way in which the band manage to describe common emotions without falling into the traps of cliché.

This album is not purely a mix of tunes to dance to, ‘Eleanor’ for example, is an incredibly haunting and beautiful piece of music that takes you off to another world. Without Stretch’s vocals urging the song on, ‘Eleanor’ has a reflective air that almost seems to allow the band to regain control, almost working like an intermission. For me, it is the stand out track on the album and the thing that sets Performance out from all the other bands out there; without vocals, they can produce an incredibly coherent piece of music that is a worthy listen in itself. Furthermore, even without vocals, it never leaves the realms of popular music into anything more elitist; it is simply fantastic song writing.

Comparisons with The Killers to me seem completely unjustified; Performance achieve something completely different on this record to anything that Brandon Flowers and Co tend to produce. There is no reliance on heavy synths here; instead the honesty of the record speaks for itself. There is perhaps more than a hint of nostalgia at times and nowhere is this more prevalent than in the album’s closer ‘Karaoke.’ However, rather than feeling dated, it feels in some way necessary as though this is the only possible way in which the album could end.

‘Red Brick Heart’ is the band’s soul laid bare and I, for one, think it is absolutely fantastic.

Author: Josie Payne