Dislike Boris Johnson and David Cameron? You might well like Lux Lisbon
By Patrick Cash
Named after the titillating protagonist from Jeffrey Eugenide’s seminal novel The Virgin Suicides, Lux Lisbon are an indie band formed at Nottingham University. Perhaps you’re thinking that sentence describes all you need to know, but they’re not just another bunch of maddeningly dull angst-riders. The five-piece display politically savvy lyrics, excellently made videos and intricately wrought guitar-lead melodies; they feel like a fresh, necessary wave in a sometime staid musical sea.
Lead singer Stuart Rook’s extraordinary voice provides an emotional nexus about which the majority of the songs swirl, like Gaslight Anthem-tinged opener ‘Get Some Scars’ and the racing electronic riffs of ‘Your Heart Is A Weapon The Size Of A Fist’. But equally when pianist and co-vocalist Charlotte Austen takes the lead on ‘Devil Got Me Dancing’ her soulful voice storms an off-set to Rook’s ribald masculinity, combined with a tightly constructed backing track to make this song one of the strongest on the EP.
‘Bullingdon Club’ is the past single which has made a stir on social media, with its Youtube video of the band wearing huge David Cameron and Boris Johnson masks. It begins with a sapphire electric guitar intro, before launching into a lacerating lyrical takedown of the two much-maligned Tory puppeteers.
Inspired by the riots of summer 2011, Rook sings: ‘I saw a Buller Man in blue on my tv / “what’s going on? There’s a fire, it’s a riot, it’s a riot!” / He said “Don’t worry son, they’re not like you or me”… It ain’t so far to fall when you’ve got nothing at all / And money makes the merrywold go-round’. The chorus echos with some of the energy, unrest and sense of unfairness that fired in the youth-lead social upheaval: ‘When the future is never good enough then / They throw some punches, spill some blood / Like you would if you’d been fucked by the Bullingdon Club.’
When Thatcher was dismantling British industries in the 80s there was a cavalcade of politically-motivated artists, bands and musicians speaking out against her with a powerful collective voice. Right now, with the attempted privatisation of the NHS going on in front of us, it seems that every song on the radio is teaching us to constantly search for individual love rather than ever look at the flaws of external society. In this climate, Lux Lisbon bring a spark that deserves to become a flame.
