Cocos Lovers, Mumford & Sons

Friday 13th February, The Farmhouse, Canterbury

Dom got me a ticket to see Mumford & Sons, before the event sold out - they're his latest favourite thing ever, and a lot of other people's too, as far as I can tell.

When I got there, Dom and Miriam were finishing a short set (one acoustic guitar + vocals) which everyone seemed to be enjoying. Three bands played that night. The headliners were undeniably impressive, put a huge amount of energy into it, had the whole place singing along with songs they'd never heard before...The singer's incredibly passionate, and quite a poet. The use of banjo, double-bass, accordion, etc. in this kind of set-up was indeed refreshing - the Guardian review I read the day before described them as "Coldplay reborn as hillbillies", which sounds awful, but if you try to imagine that as a really good thing, it's not too far from the truth. I can imagine that they'll become huge, and everyone in attendance will be able to tell their friends that they saw Mumford & Sons in a little venue in Canterbury for £3 back in '09. Even tho' it wasn't really "my thing" (probably would have been more impressive if I were a bit younger), I was sufficient impressed to put up with being squashed into a room full of mostly sweaty, beery blokes for an hour.

The second act, Alessi's Ark, sort of passed me by. Alessi's stuff is quite fragile, and didn't quite survive against the audience volume. The real revelation of the evening, tho' was Cocos Lovers from Deal, of all places. An eccentric, vaguely folky bunch of lovable types exuding a rare warmth and playing a succession of gorgeous songs. At one point, someone got up on stage and started toasting (dancehall style) over an instrumental passage. His lyrics weren't brilliant, but it had spirit and lifted the energy right up, everyone loved it (they then explained that he was their producer). The next day I, couldn't remember much about the music, just the warm feeling that went with it. But listening to the tracks on their MySpace profile, I can confirm that they are indeed wonderful. They're playing up at UKC later this month, as well as at the Small World Festival in May. Here they are, exploring Holland last year (makes me wish I'd been with them):