A two person band from Ascot, Febueder played an interesting set to a moderately sized crowd at Esther’s Follies on Tuesday. It’s always odd to see a UK band in Austin that doesn’t have the weight of the British Music Embassy promotion behind it, and it makes me wonder who these guys pissed off to not that get effort. Still, a decent group of people saw the duo play their brand of what I can only describe as artsy rock.
With only one person on percussion and another providing vocals, guitars (and sometimes other instruments), it wouldn’t be entirely inaccurate to say that the duo builds songs using a minimal, methodical and progressive sound. Each beat seems to be well planned and purposeful and sets the stage for the next sound whether it be guitars or Kieran Godfrey’s vocals which sounds a bit like the guy from Foals. If I had to make some basic band comparisons, I would say it sounds a bit like Alt J if they went to another art school with some Foals mixed in.
With minimal crowd interaction, at times the show felt almost like being a fly on the wall for a jam session, which was kind of nice but also felt a bit isolating. Still there is good foundation for Febueder to build on as they take the next step forward.