Live Review: Jakil's First Gig of 2017

Jakil are a Scottish pop/indie band based in Edinburgh. They seem to have attracted a decent following, with much of the audience in the intimate venue, Mash House, singing and dancing along with singer, Kieran O'Brien. I hadn’t heard of the five piece before planning to attend their first gig of 2017 so I walked into Mash House with an open mind prepared for anything.

The five guys walked on stage, and judging by their look and style, I was guessing they were a typical indie band. By God, was I wrong. They burst into I Was a Fool For What I Did and I was pleasantly blown away by the sheer buzz I felt on my legs. The drums and bass just hit me and vibrated my whole body. The song begins with an 80’s style rhythm with poppy, high guitar chords. O’Brien’s voice is impressive and has a good range. They were all extremely lively especially O’Brien who showed his cheery charisma as soon as the song began. The only thing I will say is the backing vocals could’ve been louder and more prominent, there was a good opportunity here for some significant harmonies. I didn’t catch the name of the second song but it sounded pretty similar to the 1975, however, O’Brien has a better voice and actually sings the high notes live as opposed to Matt Healy, which was refreshing. Also, the three-way harmonies were better and more prominent during this song. Then they shot into Istanbul which has a catchy guitar riff throughout the song, which shows their 80’s influences as it sounds almost like the first walking riff of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. There were also more impressive high harmonies during the chorus. Then they went into an atmospheric build up while O’Brien danced around the stage. One thing I didn’t hear too much of during many of their songs was an interesting bass line, this is something I feel the band lacks. I could hear and feel the bass but I think with some more experimental bass lines, these songs would separate themselves from other indie/pop bands. The two guitar players compliment each other well, I couldn’t tell who was the rhythm guitarist and was lead which is something fresh. The last song I want to talk about is Tongue Tied. As soon as they started, I genuinely thought they were doing a cover of the 1975’s Settle Down. The two songs are very similar and O’Brien and Healy’s voice are alike. Although, there’s more of a difference between these two songs in the studio version. Overall Jakil produce a brilliant live sound with decent guitar melodies and riffs, loud and punchy drum beats and bass and very impressive vocals and harmonies. I hope they do make their way up the rankings as I prefer them to The 1975, they’re genuine and they know what they are and where they stand in modern music. They’re a great pop band and a not bad indie band. They’re The 1975, but in overdrive.

#live #indie #reviews #edinburgh #pop