Life In Film

To find a band like this, almost out of thin air, seems like it must be beginner's luck. Whatever it was, I'll take it. We saw Life in Film on my friend's birthday - I'd found them by chance scrolling through artists, and a mutual friend loved them already. You can hear all their recorded stuff - as we did - and think that you knew the songs well, and loved them even more. Then you arrive at the venue, and there's this one girl at the front, right next to the stage, who knows every word to every song, and is singing along with them under her breath like she can't believe she's there. To realise that the band had a fan this awed, this dedicated, made me feel like I was witnessing something personal. The atmosphere in The Borderline was intimate - under ground level, a small but packed room, and even at the back of the venue, you were by no means far away from the stage. We, on the other hand, were right by the stage, slowly but surely being pushed into the corner right next to the speakers by the persistent cameraman. While the Book Club played, I saw this man come down into the crowd, almost unnoticed, and he gave the band a subtle thumbs up - I realised this was Dominic, the bass guitarist. I told my friends that I'd just seen one of the band members, but our excitement then didn't compare to our excitement when they all came on stage. Many bands aren't as good live as they are recorded. Why? Because they rely on autotune. Life in Film were better. With an understated performance, they enraptured the crowd, some laughed and sang when their favourite song came on, others stayed silent, just trying to listen - which is really what music's about. Seeing them perform live, I believe we really captured an insight into their thoughts from when the songs were written. Samuel's voice was raw and real, and could either encourage the crowd to sing along or bring us to a total hush. We were standing right beside Dominic, at the side; he put on such a show, jumping around to the songs as he played. The highlight of his performance was, for me, when he laid back on the ground and played his guitar lying down, only to knock his beer over, onto the stage, the song list, and, to our amusement, us.
We were given the encore that all of us wanted. Nobody was half-hearted in their attempts to call the band back on stage. We all wanted to hear as much of them as we could. For me, hearing "Carla" performed live was my favourite part. I knew the song of by heart, but that night made it ring true. Hearing that song, listening not just to the words but to the real music behind it, made me shiver.
Honestly, I don't think you could ask for anything more from a band.

Just like when we saw Life in Film open for the Wombats, they were amazing. They played half of their debut album and mixed in some new songs and surprises (including an amazing cover of a Leonard Cohen song). Can't wait to see them again the next time they come to NYC.