Today is a bit of an unusual one for Newcastle. It’s sunny. In
February. And there’s no wind. It’s not quite April 2012 standards,
where sitting down by the Quayside drinking cocktails was completely OK
at lunch time, despite what everyone else says, but we’ll take what we
can get. So it seems perfectly apt that on this surprisingly sunny
Sunday, Mausi come back to the North East to deliver a refreshing burst
of sun inspired tunes. As part of a medley of upcoming acts put on by
Tipping Point and Generator, Mausi seem like the perfect way to end the
day.
But let’s focus on the rest of the acts on show first. Amy Holford is
a North East solo artist (for the most part. She did get the assistance
of a piano for her final song) who seems to pop up at nearly every
North East new artist event, her name cropping up on the Evolution
Emerging bill every so often. There is good reasoning behind this,
though, as her voice really is mesmerising. The Sage is famous for its
wonderful acoustics so throw in someone with a powerful voice and
listening to it rise and soar through the room is truly beautiful. “I
Won’t Wait” is a perfect example of this, a simple, honest song about
being fed up with an unresponsive partner but with such gusto and
emotion behind her voice, it’s hard not to be blown away. “Rabbit Hole”
is the only proper up-tempo song throughout the set, sounding
fantastically reminiscent of KT Tunstall’s amazing performance of Black
Horse and the Cherry Tree on Later with Jools Holland.
Death at Sea take the stage next, kicking the mood up several gears.
They started off a little bit weak, unfortunately sounding like most new
bands with guitars these days, so I wasn’t holding out much hope. Until
they slammed down the fuzz pedal and suddenly transformed into an
amalgamation of early Weezer’s adolescent garage punk and Pavement’s
stoner rock and blew me away. I started to eat my words there and then
with a side of “egg on my face”. What followed was track after track of
90s reminiscing, from being too young to go to gigs to that period of
life where you just want to make out with everything.
Eliza and the Bear, a band which contains neither someone named Eliza
nor an actual bear (the latter of which disappointed me a bit but
probably relieved the staff of The Sage), paved the way for the sunny
disposition of Mausi with their upbeat danceable indie pop songs. An
energetic presence, particularly on the part of the keyboardist, went
hand in hand with the sheer joy they put forward in their music. Most
indie bands these days try to be too clever; tackling philosophical
questions, looking for the meaning of life. Whatever happened to just
having a bloody good time? That’s where these guys step in. Completely
unpretentious and full of life, it’s a set full of just having fun.
Mausi also fit very neatly into this all but recently ignored area of
music. Listen to “Move” or “sol.” and try, just try, to not want to go
to your travel agent and book a holiday to the sunniest place you know
of and just dive into a cool, blue ocean. It’s hard. I’ve had to keep
the travel brochures under lock and key whenever I listen to them. And
it comes through even more in their live sets, technical difficulties
aside (which lead singer Daisy passes off in the most adorable way).
It’s exuberant, boisterous and, most importantly, a set filled with good
old fashioned pop bangers; songs that, when you hear them, you just
want to go a bit mental. Even the slower songs such as “Disney Films”
feel like they’re from another place, somewhere where the sun is just
setting and you’re sat on the beach listening to the waves before you
finish it off with a trip to the club that plays exclusively “My Friend
Has A Swimming Pool”, which needs to be released as a single ASAP so I
can play it on loop for the rest of this year.
It’s hard not to have a good time at a Mausi gig. Full of energy and
fun, it’s the perfect end to a rare sunny day in our fair city.
