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Joan of Arc//Hot Club De Paris + Support 27th June


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Joan Of Arc:*Life Like | Music | Music Review | The A.V. Club Chicago

Joan of Arc - Life Like / Releases / Releases // Drowned In Sound

A couple of reviews of Joan of Arc's latest album.

"As the sole full time member of Joan Of Arc, Tim Kinsella doesnt make life easy for himself. Despite his deft skills as a songwriter and lyricist, he sometimes seems too willing to experiment and obscure his work behind concepts that dont always come across as well as intended. On the one hand, this does mean that as a band, Joan Of Arc rarely repeats itself, an admirable quality, and one that can provide rewarding results for the long-term fan. On the other hand, it does mean that some records sound like a sprawling impenetrable mess, rather than the high concept work that was intended. Life Like, the groups fifteenth album, eschews any sort of avant-garde tendencies and instead opts for actual songs. The result is a focused and surprisingly restraint affair, words which are rarely associated with a Joan Of Arc record.

Life Like sees the band strip down to its core of bass, drums and guitars. Gone are the electronic flourishes, the sampling and studio experimentation of previous outings; the Joan Of Arc of Life Like are a taut rock outfit, with no time for messing around. This streamlined approach is down as much to choice as necessity. Raising funds through a Kickstarter campaign, the group only had five days to record. With a limited budget, and limited time, sticking to the script is vital. Thats not to say that all the band's calling cards are gone. Tim Kinsellas voice still operates in that weird area somewhere between a warble and a screech. Angular, spidery guitar parts in awkward tunings come courtesy of Victor Villarreal, aka one of the best guitarists of the last 20 years. For some, the news that Villarreal appears on the record is reason enough to like Life Like. His return to music after ten years will no doubt have some Kinsella fan boys shitting their pants. Luckily, he doesnt disappoint."

here are some reviews of Hot Club de Paris' last couple of EPs.

Hot Club De Paris With Days Like This As Cheap As Chewing Gum EP | The Line Of Best Fit

Hot Club De Paris The Rise And Inevitable Fall Of | The Line Of Best Fit

"One of the most wonderful things about Hot Club de Paris has been their staunch refusal to slot into anything approaching the industry norm over the past six or so years. In that time, guitar music has followed its path of high peaks and low troughs, whilst contemporaries have gone from being the next big thing to having the label of landfill indie thrust upon them by an indifferent public. The Liverpudlian trio have carried on regardless, following their original blueprint of creating jaunty 3 minutes bursts of pop music.

The Rise and Inevitable Fall of the High School Suicide Cluster Band is the second EP of their return, as the band sink into a prolific period of writing, self producing and recording tracks. Considering the speed that theyve put out these 6 tracks its only 3 months since their last effort its an enjoyable surprise that theres no noticeable dip in quality from the band. Lead single Free the Pterodactyl 3 is a slow, considered number still bears the bands mark however reminiscing, as it does, singer Pauls failure to free a fibreglass model dinosaur from a derelict fun fair at the hands of the law. Closing track Three Albums in and still no Ballad might be a brave show of irony, but theres no bravado in the mournful tones crafted, nor in Pauls unusually tender vocals."

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  • 3 weeks later...

I thought their gig at the Tunnels last year was terrific. Love of Everything were great too (though sadly Bobby and Elisse are now separated). Tim was impressively drunk before the show but I thought he was good regardless. That was a good spell for JOA as a live band but obviously they've changed again. Now they're back to being a quartet and it's more like Owls as has been said already. Still, it'll be great to see Victor Villareal (truly extraordinary guitarist on his day) play live again.

This time around should be less meandering and slightly more rocking, though obviously it'll still be fairly weird because it's Joan of Arc. Definitely recommended if you like evolved emocore or art rock. They're an esoteric band and they seem to polarise opinion but as a live band they are drastically underrated in any incarnation. Worth a look!

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  • 2 weeks later...
We are looking for someone to sit on the door and take tickets for this gig.

If you want to do this you will be rewarded with free entry and a few pints on the night. please get in touch with myself or Iomega!

Already told Dave I'm happy to do this. See you Monday!

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