Friday 14/10/05 Viva Voce @ 53 Degrees, Preston

Named after the Italian for “word of mouth”, Viva Voce’s Kevin and Anita Robinson play an eclectic mix of bright indie pop spiked with a dreamy swoon. Think The Kills in a good mood.

The husband and wife duo look comfortable on the small stage, clearly more at ease when they can see the whites of their audience’s eyes. Tonight is part of series of gigs all over the country in celebration of the first annual ‘John Peel Day ‘. Drummer Kevin reminds the crowd why their here before launching into the Grandaddy filtered through scuzzy bass of ‘Business Casual’. The smoother croon of ‘Daylight’ leads them into slightly darker, Ladytron tinged territory. ‘Alive With Pleasure’ has a bright kazoo hum and 70’s guitars that make the people at the back draw in for a closer look.

 

Some of the audience are still busy gazing at their pints, but Viva Voce drift of into their own little world, dedicating ‘High Highs’ from new album ‘The Heat Can Melt Your Brain’ “to all the ladies tonight”. With horny bass lines that drip of bedroom scenes and surreptitious fumbling in dark corners it proves one of the surprise hits of the night. Elsehwere, ‘Wrecking Ball’ has Kenickie on a candy-floss binge kookiness whirled together with a dash of Goldfrapp sensuality. What follows couldn’t be more different, the sweetly heartbreaking vocals of ‘The Lucky Ones’ drifting into the country ramble of ‘Red D-lish’. Like a teenage girl’s diary put to music ‘One In Every Crowd’ invites a slight shoegaze shuffle. Ending on the slightly bitter note of ‘The Centre Of The  Universe’ seems an odd choice, made slightly more disturbing by the sight of two men doing a random ballroom dance repertoire in the crowd.

 

While some wandered off into the club happily discussing the merits of guitarist Anita’s double guitar combo, others barely seem to have noticed, as passing by unseen into the crowd Viva Voce melt into the night.