23 April 2010
At what could be called pub o'clock on a Friday, the kind folk of the Southbank Centre can often be found opening their doors to the public for free events in varying parts of the complex. On this particular sunny Friday, the Front Room performance space was absolutely mobbed for a magnificent full-length set from Polar Bear, fresh from appearing on Later last week.
Directed from the back of the stage by drummer and band-leader Seb Rochford, who periodically added a few customarily soft-spoken comments and explanatory thoughts, the band were a joy to watch, from the obvious - the sonorous resonance of Tom Herbert's double bass, to the more discreet diversions of Leafcutter John, who at different points, not content with playing guitar and laptop-driven electronics, also used a deflating balloon, a PS2 (or 3, what's the difference?) and a Wii.
Most pleasing to see, as ever, was Mr Rochford, who, whilst driving forward the precisely constructed rhythms, maintained an expression of absolute calm that belied the blur of the drumsticks. Surely the most amazing thing about him is that his hair isn't the most amazing thing about him? Although, of course, I write as someone for whom the idea of choosing a hairstyle is a historical irrelevance...In the jazz-ist manner there was room for individual extemporisation, and happy dialogues between the twin saxes, and looped bass-lines, before falling back into the mould of the tunes, which on new album Peepers continue to feel as much like ensemble rhythmic exercises as they do musical explorations, with no one instrument really taking overall lead. Combining tunes and dissonance, solo flourishes and neat combinations, syncopation and polyrhythms, it was an exhilarating journey through one part of a lively musical intelligence.
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