“How old are you? If you don’t mind me asking, because you look really young,” the not-so-charming bouncer said, as I, perplexed and mildly insulted, handed over my ID. Only when I looked inside the venue did I understand: everyone was in their 30s.

Although the room was only half full, the majority of the generation X crowd were familiar with Wintersleep’s music, and the Canadian five-piece were happy to answer to heckles concerning their incorrect pronunciation of aluminium, (following the song ‘Drunk on Aluminium’) and to oblige those demanding their favourite song.

In such a warm atmosphere, it was easy to see why they were going down so well. Their accessible indie-rock was performed in an unpretentious, uncomplicated way, which suited their straightforward sound. Tracks with high-energy choruses such as ‘Freak Out,’ had the audience dancing, whilst the anthem ‘Amerika’ had lyrics that were easy to pick up if you were one of the few that wasn’t already a fan.

Eventually, though, things got a bit samey, and although they tried to mix it up by changing to acoustic guitar, I felt that a couple of tracks should have been restyled for the gig, since their songs are quite simple anyway, and was waiting for a stripped back acoustic version that never came. This would have been the perfect place for Paul Murphy to show-off his voice more, as he played it safe throughout the gig and was sometimes even drowned out by thick swathes of guitar.

All in all it was a decent gig and a pleasant way to spend an evening, but it was just a little too risk-free, which is perhaps why Wintersleep are such a hit with the older generation.

Emma Dutton

Image: The Coast