The change should have been obvious with the release of the Official Secrets Act’s debut music video. For a group that oozed smooth to morph from the essence of synth-tastic cool to the 80s psychedelic visual rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody in mono must mean a wrong turn was taken somewhere on the indie highway. With the exception of their amateur Girl from the BBC music video, which nobody REALLY ever talks about (social niceties), the Official Secrets Act (OSA) boys have always personified effortless cool. Up until now …
It’s Tuesday, 9 December and OSA have sold out the iconic Barfly venue in Camden, London. Their fan following here tonight is as mixed as their cross-section of songs, with some groove, some smooth and some of the best versions of the ridiculous. One lady in the audience, a beautifully upright Scottish woman with mom looks and screaming tendencies, knows every word to every song – and the album hasn’t even been released yet. OSA first came to attention back in the days of Jugust, one never ending month of summer frivolity egged on by the lack of sunshine and too expensive festival tickets. In the gorgeous Windmill in Brixton, Tom Burke (lead vocals) stood up on speakers and time stood still. Tonight, in front of a sold-out Camden show riding on the successful release of their first single off their debut album, entitled So Tomorrow, the crowd waits for that energy once again.
They come onto the stage and they are undeniably good looking. Decked out in what one can only hope is ironic face glitter, their set starts with a baffling monologue of tales of conquered cities, followed by a watered down set of songs. That grit-your-teeth-to-stop-yourself-yelping passion and brutal stage presence is gone, replaced by some ambiguous breed of record-deal refined, perfectly packaged, calculated image. His voice is still the same, and the interesting combinations of tested and experimental instruments are cacophonic-ally beautiful. But the edge has been shaved off, whittled down and gathered together to make the marionette stage performance we are now greeted with.
Yes … the first sign was definitely evident in the music video. So Tomorrow the video, released a few weeks back to the ecstatic MySpace audience, is quirky and interesting, but also a bit awkward to watch. In that way, it is similar to their new stage performance. Maybe they are trying too hard, or they are just nervous, but from what they have released so far and how they are presenting themselves on stage, the snap and the crackle of OSA has been replaced by the smooth by-product of the publicity machine. That said, maybe they are trying to be tongue-in-cheek and perhaps their Barbarella esque tunes and videos will be hailed as cult classics in time.
It is easy to see what they are trying to do. But, an image that they are pandering to has lost them their edge and cost them their original performance. They are still good; standing next to another band they would sound impressive and exude that frisson which entices the hearts of all listeners. But, that thing, that kick, that catch in Tom’s voice and that sneaky change over in the instruments which opened up the songs and set them apart has been battened down. They are good, they are maybe great, but they aren’t electric, they aren’t unstoppable. Their music will sell very well, but it’s not iconic now and instead of standing in a league with Muse on the Barfly stage, they might now be filed away as one of the other ‘good’ acts that played there. Great on stage … but what’s the bassist’s name again?
Posted In Live Reviews, Dec 16 2008.
Words - Jess