22/07/00 - nme

The Animalhouse

London Highbury The Garage

There are so many ways this could have gone wrong. So many reasons why The Animalhouse are easy to dislike. Their age (sure, they've been round the block a few times), their history (chiefly in shoegazing heroes Ride) and the fact that we're understandably cautious after our brush with Hurricane #1.

Those are the facts. Now forget them. On stage tonight, The Animalhouse prove none of this matters. They've spent nearly two years figuring out how they fit together as a band and the results are exciting, relaxed and about the here and now - not what's gone before.

It helps that they look so brilliant as a band. Singers Sam Williams and Mark Gardener share centre stage equally, each as important as the other, as they harmonise like a stoned Beach Boys. Bassist Hari T is on one side, her gaunt iciness a perfect antidote to keyboard player Jason King's frantic nodding head and pounding fingers. But for all that wired energy, The Animalhouse sound distinctly laid-back. Their sparky Supergrass-fuelled pop is shot through with hazy '60s psychedelia, similar to the later Ride songs Mark wrote. In 'Small' it works best - all sliding harmonies, Theremin squeals and sneering vocals: "I wasn't looking for a perfect life/ just a girl with a dirty smile".

But then the pace drops and they slip into 'Spacetrash', a gorgeous, country lilt which makes Mark sound like an infatuated Evan Dando on America's West Coast. He clings to the mic stand and closes his eyes, obviously as much in love with the songs he's singing now as he's ever been.

Simply, that's why The Animalhouse work effortlessly together more than most would expect. They're not doing this to fill time, but because they have to, because they realise they only become irrelevant when they stop writing music people love. They can't change their past but - as long as they keep on doing that - their future definitely starts here.

Siobhan Grogan

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