By Darren Grayer.
I feel the need to lay my cards on the table before I start this review in full – I absolutely love A Formal Horse, and I’m happy to admit to them topping my list of favourite musical discoveries of the last five years or so. I’m in good company, though. I first heard them on Stuart Maconie’s 6Music Freak Zone program on Sunday nights. He loves them to bits, and after hearing them, to find out they were from Southampton, was even more exciting.
The four-piece band describe themselves as the Avant-rock awkward squad and can point to being Progressive Music Award nominees. I always think that being labelled as Prog-Rock immediately conjures up images of people with lots of hair playing lengthy solos on the instrument that they are masters of – usually guitar, keyboards or drums.
There’s none of that with A Formal Horse. Yes, they are truly excellent musicians, but there is far more to them than being labelled as just another prog rock band. Their two albums, the fantastically named Here Comes The Man From The Council With A Flame Thrower, and Meat Mallet are both exceptional pieces of work that take in a number of musical influences from psychedelia, heavy metal, classic and indie rock, and for the most part, centre around the remarkable, and at times, angelic vocal skills of lead singer, Hayley McDonnell.
Thursday night (20th November) saw my annual pilgrimage to Winchester’s Railway Inn for their hosting of A Formal Horse. This year has been jam packed with local gigs to attend, but this one always remains high on my list to see.
The band start with the opening two tracks from Here Comes A Man and immediately underline the point about their wider pop sensibilities. Magazine Zooey Deschanel eases gently in with Hayley singing over Ben Short’s psychedelic guitar picking. A sound that could easily come from the White Album or In The Court Of King Crimson. That leads immediately into Bird, which has a heavy pounding intro that then morphs into a glorious piece of alternative rock, with Hayley’s delivery absolutely central to it.
We then get treated to a couple of new songs that I really hope get to see the light of day on a third album, before I Just Called To Say I Like You crashes in with distinctive prog guitar and razor-sharp drums. When A Formal Horse delve into their instrumental side it never outstays its welcome or becomes self-indulgent. This particular piece quickly changes into almost lullaby status which ends in the most stunningly beautiful outro with Ben and Hayley’s choral backing vocals.
The other striking thing about watching A Formal Horse is how much they enjoy doing what they do, and the chemistry between the four members. In the short moments Hayley McDonnell leaves the stage during those instrumental parts, you can see guitarist, Ben, bassist Russell Mann, and drummer Mike Stringfellow know exactly what each of them is going to do, and it results in watching one of the tightest three pieces you’re likely to see in any small venue.
The set continues with a combination of songs from both albums. Heavy Hit pounds away with a menacing heavy guitar riff driving the song along. The same goes for Space 8, a slower paced song with huge drum sound over dark sounding bass and guitar. The lyrical content in the songs has a dark side at times, with the writing tackling corruption and the inequalities of life.
“Bookies and their golden slots, bakery smells and paper in the windows of the vacant lots, England, is this all you’ve got?” Let It Run is probably the band’s most reflective song, and stops you in your tracks with its stunning and sincere delivery.
A Formal Horse combine gentle and louder sounds in such a brilliant way. The aforementioned Here Comes A Man From The Council With A Flame Thrower, the title track from the debut album, is a prime example.
Hayley’s stunning vocals set over Ben’s beautiful descending chord sequence start the song, which then descends into crashing drums and a full wig out, before returning to a gentle ending. All in just over two minutes!
It’s then time for a singalong, with the band’s signature tune, I’m A Lasagne. If ever a song deserved wider airplay, then this is it. A surefire hit waiting to happen, if only for the reason of perhaps hearing a couple of thousand people in a big venue all singing “I’ m a lasagne, you are the big cheese, and whatever is you is me”.
The band end their set with one of their very first songs, Rosensage, and once again prove what huge talent they possess. I guess they’re never going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but what they do, they do so incredibly well, and for that reason alone they’re certainly worth checking out for lovers of any kind of alternative guitar music.
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