Much talked about London noise pop four-piece Yuck are a disparate looking bunch if the producers of Star trek put together a band this is how they might look: floppy curly fringed skinny boy singer Daniel Blumberg is joined by scruffy hipster looking Max Bloom on lead guitar and backing vox (both formerly of the illfated Cajun Dance Party) and Asian bassist Mariko Doi who has a sneeringly effortless cool to go along with her striking look and finished by Lost wannabe Jonny Rogoff he of the cracking afro on drums. If the producers of the new Creation documentary put together a band this is how they might sound, Yuck surf the early 90s wave between the bittersweet jangle pop melodies of Teenage Fanclub through the fuzz box dynamics of My Bloody Valentine, with a healthy swerve in the direction American’s
But as they move into the next song one thing becomes immediately apparently, Yuck might have some killer tunes but they don’t possess much stagecraft. Not that I was expecting theatrics you understand but initially these guys look a bit ‘too cool for school’, all indifference and careful movements. Mariko’s face is impassive as she sways from side to side with her bass, lead guitarist Max bends his knees nonchalantly as he picks at his set of strings, and lead singer stands stock still nervously gripping his guitar and straining for the next high note. It’s all a bit tentative and a little well boring visually.
Still the tunes come a pace the upbeat beat and wistful melodies of sublime former single ‘Georgia’ cartwheels across the room upon euphoric girl/boy interplay. ‘Get Away’ is a stone cold highlight its twitching instrumentals lifting you up and then thudding you down to earth, it’s ‘I love you /I hate you’ melodies bursting into the evening sky, laced with twirling leads. As I sing along to its catchy chorus lines that throb with youthful yearning (“Summer sun I want you I need you/But I just can’t get this feeling off my mind”). As they grow into their roles there’s more interaction too. Finally the shackles are thrown off partially as Daniel wheels away to shout along with drummer Jonnny, throws a smile at lead guitarist Max, as they speed through the delightful ‘Holing out’ .Its twitching basslines and squalling fuzz pedal guitars are ridden by another song born of the first rush of love. In a similar vein is forthcoming single ‘Shook Down’ a more engaging down tempo foot tapping jangle, Daniel’s heartbreaking high pitched refrain of “you could be my destiny/ you can mean that much to me” revealing a catchy slacker riff. Plus I kind of forgive Yuck their earlier nerves when they offer the crowd to come to the after show party, quite a genuine touch I thought.
‘Last time we played here we did Clwb Ifor Bach’ points out singer Daniel gleefully rolling the word ‘bachhh’ for a second time. As I survey a half empty Millenium Music Hall in Cardiff, I wonder if they should have been booked there a second time. ‘Suicide Policemen’ bemuses a girl in the audience who asks ‘which one is this?’ half the crowd seem nonplussed by this electric rendering of this subtle liltingly melancholic strum about trying hold someone together, quite literally. That rather sets the tone for slower efforts that fail to hit the mark and rather lose the interest of the audience as they trundle through a few derivative swamp-gaze walkthroughs, that send me to the bar to blow a rather disgusting two pounds fifty on a bottle of water!
However when Yuck get it right again its so good, witness the awesome strum ‘Suck’ that’s sneering vocals are punctuated by religious imagery, messy sex and personal disintegration that treads with blistered feet through shooting guitar bends and a battered and bruised rhythm section. Sadly the indefinable set closer returns to their tainted love affair with gazing at their shoes, as they seem more content to push the levels of their amps up to eleven, this wall of sound is almost un-listenable as it collapses to the ground in a blinding set of stage lights. Yuck then a mixed proposition at times they shoot for the skies, so despite the sell out shows on both sides of the Atlantic, they are clearly still a work in progress, but then why should we expect anything else when they’ve only been together a short time? Don’t believe all of the hype. Yet!
