Shy Child

Shy Child are the bewildering, blasphemous altar boy of indie rave. They sit among the dance music choir, yet are just a bit misplaced. You can’t quite work out if they should have failed the audition or ought to be given a solo slot at St Paul’s. The sheer relentlessness of their songs is compelling. They are garish, furious and bleedin’ exciting. 'Cause and effect’ has the drive of 20,000 volts and 'Pressure to come’ is killer in its purest sense.

But with choruses of 'We got it, We got it, we got it, alright,' vocalist and Jack White look-alike Cafarella is unlikely to win an Ivor Novello. Not anytime before the Earth decides to pack it in and stop spinning. The guitar-cum-keyboard 'keytar’ he plays is novel, but lacks the stinging delight of electro forefathers like Les Rythmes Digitales. Indeed at times Shy Child sound claustrophobic and grate with the monotony of a month’s service on a submarine. Their set at the ULU sounded at times like a repetitious EP of remixes of a single single. They have the charge, yet not quite the depth yet.

They would nonetheless have lapped up the reaction of the roaring crowd tonight. The college kids at the front jumped with the unrestrained madness of a warehouse party circa 1990. By the second half the front of the crowd looked like they’d been snorting Gummi Berry juice. The starting gun of the finale song was enough for one audacious starlet to leap up to join the band. For a good minute the lone security man watching the stairs adjacent scratched his forehead before, tentatively, running around to drag her off. In the intervening two and half seconds, a brazen half dozen other Baz’s hauled themselves up to join the siren on stage. By the end of the song, there were 42 (I counted) new disciples astride the band. Much to the panic of the crew.

Note: the band’s moniker is somewhat deceptive. There was no timidity in the church tonight.