Isochronous were great at Ramfest so I was excited to see them again while they were in Cape Town.  The band announced on Facebook that they were looking for supporting acts and invited people to make suggestions, the outcome of which was that they’d be playing with like knives and Saintfearless.

I’d never heard either so checked them out on Facebook; like knives didn’t have any tracks up [edit: they’ve got 2 tracks up, I apologise and have no explanation for the momentary blindness that caused me to miss that…] but looked promising, Saintfearless had 4 tracks up of which I listened to the first 2 (Stars and aeroplanes and Conventional Love Song)…this turned out to be a mistake. The tracks were pretty bland and I was generally underwhelmed and considering arriving later and giving them a miss; I’m so glad I didn’t.

If I’d’ve listened to the other 2 tracks on their facebook (Alakazam and Tango Tango) I’d never have considered skipping Saintfearless. The 2 tracks I heard are pretty slow and sorta poppy, but the high energy, all rock performance they gave shattered my initial assessment of their sound. Not only is their music cool but they’re really entertaining to watch – so much so, that they even had me forget how much I hate audience participation when they divided the crowd and got each half to try to out-sing the other.

Bonus points for having twins, bonus bonus points for the fact that their names are Kevin and Kelvin (?!). A fun band I’ll definitely see again.

My expectations were to be proven wrong again – like knives had looked pretty good on paper but the longer they were up on stage, the less I liked them…I just found myself getting a bit bored…I think the singer’s voice had a lot to do with it, though, in his defense, he was downing a lot of Vicks so can’t have been at 100%.

Vicks & beer: apparently not a winning combo...

They seem to have quite a following though, I dunno, maybe I caught them on a bad day, maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for them, either way, they didn’t really blow me away….maybe next time.

[Edit: their track Lotus is worth a listen, I’ve repeated it quite a few times. The other track on their Facebook, Aporia, I’m afraid I won’t be repeating as much…]

I had no idea Mercury was in possession of a large, red velvet curtain, but after like knives started clearing off, one such curtain was was drawn across the stage. Isochronous certainly have a penchant for the dramatic during their performances, it verges on being pretentious at times…

...plus they just looked silly testing the mics through the curtain

…but when the curtains opened to reveal the band who smiled and saluted the city they were visiting just for that night, the effect was undeniable. Presentation is important to a lot of bands, but Isochronous have the musicality and skill to pull off their somewhat grand image, watching them is always a great experience.

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Check out Isochronous, like knives & Saintfearless (they have some free MP3s) on Facebook.

Photos on Facebook over here.