I discovered this band over the summer with the release of their self titled album. The first song I heard was "Walk in the Park", which was used during Steve Jobs' keynote speech and the unveiling of the iPhone. I instantly fell in love with the album; a cute, indie pop record with a lot of variety. However, there were 3 songs on the album which completely did not fit and were poorly written, and pretty much made my skin crawl. I still do not understand why they even included these songs.

I saw them open for Mew a week ago and was extremely excited to finally see them play in my city, after sending numerous pleas to them via Myspace. I had high hopes for their set. I stood close to the stage, brimming with excitement and eager for them to begin. They opened with the first track of the album, which is one of the songs I detest - Skip the Foreplay. I was a little disheartened, but still stood through it. They went on to play the other terrible song off the album (Reeks & Seeks), a slew of new songs, and only four other recognizeable songs. Aside from this, they were terrible live. The live renditions of a couple of their songs just did not cross over well (such as I Love You All the Time, and I Have No Sister). It's my belief that when you come to a city and you're not a well-known band, you should save the "new stuff" for when you return to that city, when you get the word out that your band exists. When you come to a city for the first time, play the songs people recognize. Chances are, not as many people as you think know who you are, so why play them songs they can't buy at your merch table afterwards?

All in all, I'd say they're not quite used to play shows live and will hopefully improve as they go on. It was not an enjoyable set, their song choices were not good, and their interaction with the audience (which isn't really notable because it's not something I particularly care about) wasn't impressive either. I really really hope they get better because I still love them dearly and I think they will go far if they make the necessary changes.

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