Music Monday #36: An Horse

On Monday, April 4, 2011, I went to see An Horse in concert in Frankfurt. An Horse [-> Wikipedia], as you might know, are a very cool band form Brisbane, Australia. They’ve opened for Tegan and Sara before, which is how I personally found out about their existence.

Their first full album is Rearrange Beds and it came out in 2009. I have listened to it many times and I like it better with each listen. Maybe you will, too. When I read that you can pre-order their next album, I did so very quickly. I ordered it on vinyl, the reasoning being that the price was the same as the CD, vinyl has bigger artwork, and I’ll most likely listen to it in MP3 format most of the time anyway.

The venue they performed at was called Das Bett, a rather small club in Frankfurt. The support act was a band from Cologne, Periscope, and while they put in a lot of effort, I thought it was hard to get into the music. Then again, I always find it hard to judge live music. It’s usually rather loud and the vocals aren’t very clear. When The Jezabels opened for Tegan & Sara in Melbourne, I thought they were okay, but I only really got into them when I listened to their EP at home.

At any rate, once Periscope ended their set, An Horse took to the stage. It was almost sad that only about 50 people came to see them, but An Horse still seemed happy, considering it was a Monday night. “Who does that? Who goes out on a Monday night? I never do that,” Kate said. “But I don’t go out on Friday night either.” They played some old songs, which were great, and some new songs, which were cool, too, although I didn’t understand much of the lyrics. I found Damon’s drumming quite impressive, and it still amazes me how this small band of only two people can produce as rich a sound as they do. One Fender guitar, one drum set, two harmonizing voices – apparently, that’s really all you need.

They warned us ahead of time that they wouldn’t do an encore, as encores are awkward, and besides, they had already played all the songs they know. So after the final applause, we went over to the merchandise table and I bought one of their T-shirts to support them. It has a severed hand and a bird on it, and as Damon was standing nearby, I asked him what the meaning of the shirt was. He told me they just had a friend in Melbourne do all their designs, and they usually liked what she came up with. So basically, it didn’t mean anything, it was only meant to look nice.

All in all it was a very nice gig and if they ever play anywhere near you, do go there and support them. Then you can say leter, “Hey, I already knew them before they were really famous.”

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