Sundara Karma Live [Review]

I feel like Sundara Karma personify everything modern day indie revolves around: an iconic look, a captivating presence, and a sound that is familiar and easy enough to get into quickly but different enough to make them stand out from the rest. And as I slipped into the ever-growing mass of teens bustling to get to the front at Southampton's 1865, a huge fizz of excitement filling the room, I knew that the Berkshire quartet's mellow, Bowie-esque efforts that led them to dipping their toes into the mainstream market were going to inspire a wild night. 

In July, debut album Youth Is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect was given a reboot - three extra numbers interspersed a track list of big arena-ready anthems. One of these was set opener and their most melancholic track Another Word for Beautiful, which Oscar Pollock crooned to majestic back lighting - a bit of a misdirection to what was about to come. Soon, the fiery opening riff to A Young Understanding echoed around the hall, and everyone was jumping. At first I thought AWFB was an odd choice to open with, but it made the upcoming energy of one of their most epic tracks all the more striking. This kind of vitality never ceased throughout the set, but I was pushed out of the way for dance circles mostly during the massively fun She Said and Deep Relief. 

Flame displayed their best performance. Pollock dived into the crowd as he roared the chorus to their most recognisable tune, and Haydn Evans' percussion reverberated around the venue. It felt like a thank-you; I don't know whether it's because, to me, Flame is a very sentimental song, but it has always felt like their warmest track, their most inviting to belt out alongside them, and the extra passion that went into this performance seemed to act as heartfelt recognition. 

This was about the extent that Sundara Karma interacted with the audience. Granted, it was a pretty great way to do so, but too often it did just feel like you watching a band play, rather than living and connecting with the band. Oscar spoke a couple of times - he asked how many people had seen them *insert number here* times - but Haydn, Ally and Dom said extremely little or nothing at all. I feel like - much like Sundara Karma themselves (and Oscar's beautifully highlighted cheekbones) - this genre of music has an image that's very carefully carved. They act  fairly unemotional for fear of looking to twee or pop-like. That annoys me no end. Maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick, because the fervency and the atmosphere was second to none.

Sundara Karma rounded their set off with latest single and vigorous crowd-pleaser Explore, ending the show with the same glorious vivacity that A Young Understanding spurred. I've never known a crowd respond to music quite like they did with Sundara Karma. In a word, the gig was - electrifying.

From,
Eleanor