Austin – Somewhere in England, maybe in the Forests of Sherlock or something, I am convinced there is a factory. In this factory, there are many brilliant scientists, all assigned one simple task – create as many good female fronted acts out there as possible. Somehow in the past few years, following some revolutionary break through, they have finally found a formula that works. How else do you explain the successes Marina and the Diamonds, Little Boots, Ellie Goulding, Florence and the Machines, La Roux and now Chew Lips? It’s like Britpop all over again, only with pretty girls and electro music.
Chew Lips is a South London electro band fronted by a platinum blond singer named Tigs. The band apparently only formed in 2008 and are now at SXSW. Impressive. Their album, Unicorn, was released in January off the always impressive Kitsune label. I’ve listened to it a few times, it was fairly catchy, although perhaps not as good as the other acts I have compared to. I was interested to see how the live show would translate.
The threesome took the stage shortly after 9 at Latitude, asides from Tig, who had bedazzled her face, there was a bassist and an effects dude. The half hour set consisted of singles off the album, including Salt Air and Play Together. Despite fighting a throat infection, Tig sang fairly well, and was quite intriguing to watch on stage with playful charisma and a lot of hand movement dancing. The music, as with most electro pop acts, sound better live then on the album. The mixing was better, the beats were better (mainly due to the bassist) and the pacing was definitely better. I’ve always thought the Chew Lips album could have been more ‘dancey’, and it turns out their live show was just that. Its always a wonder how that does not translate to the album though. Determined to leave with an impact (or pay homage to the original Coyotes Ugly bar down the street), the Chew Lips singer strutted to the bar and sang on the table top for the set closer, whose name escaped me at the current moment.
All in all, a good showcase for a band that’s barely 30 months old. I wonder if they’ll get lost in the shuffle though, all the other girl acts seem to have a little extra niche. Chew Lips just seems like a solid band…no fancy hair, no tenori-on, no fierce red hair. I guess only time will tell.
