The Irrepressibles

'The Irrepresibles play in the wasteland of our post-modern capitalist cultural burnout, playing with the embers, crying for their ruin, and making new inventions' goes their entry in their official myspace site. It is debatable whether there is a cultural burnout, though the mainstream pop scene is surely a sign of post-modern capitalist decadence, as well as burnout.

This 12 piece band whose members are practically college and university students based in London and the South-East, have been making waves in the alternative rims of pop for the past year or so. They have been commissioned to do film soundtracks and time and again have performed at various gigs, --in this case it was a free 45 minute performance held on Friday night at the prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum. On Fridays, this centre remains open for free until 10 pm as a bid to attract more people. This was arguably a fine avant-garde presentation in its own right. At face value, it may have looked pretentious, not least with the weird attire of the members. It was as if The New Romance had just been transposed to present something more sinister. Yet, weird though The Irrepressibles may sound, they do not profess weirdness as their means to attract their audience. Their music has evolved in patterns that are unpredictable, with new and exciting textures, and an ability to reach out rather than distancing away as was the case with a few bands over the years. These young, capable and proficient musicians, who all have a classical background can deliver a mixture of music that sounds so avant-garde while addressing past genres, including opera. I am indeed writing the article at a time when one of my best friends and arguably Malta’s most eclectic composer Mro. Professor Charles Camilleri has passed away. He would have been quite pleased with this kind of music, as it can provide so much colour from so many different genres. Yet, The Irrepressibles sound quite disciplined and can provide a sense of uniformity in their music too.

I got my first impressions of this band, whom I hardly knew anything about on that
Friday evening. Their first song on the set, My Friend Jo, immediately gave away influences of Scott Walker, with Jamie lead singer sounding and looking so melodramatic with Jamie’s voice fitting in almost perfectly with the punctuating violin arrangements, and yet, they sound so authentic and sincere. The music may be complex but it is unpretentious, and reflects a very artistic disposition, very typical of college kids.

On Splish Splash Sploo, this mini-orchestra shows off its various influences ranging from Kurt Weil, to Bertolt Brecht and even Saint-Saens and Elgar. Splish Splash Sploo is essentially a 21st century ditty on a cold-hearted, facile society, with cellos and violins providing an air of brittleness. The Sunday Telegraph aptly described The Irrepressibles as 'standing midway between early Roxy Music and a Peter Greenaway movie.' However, I would say that Take This Shirt, their tour-de-force song to date sees them more in the vein of Philip Glass or The Velvet Underground, though to be fair, Roxy were highly influenced by The Velvet Underground. Take This Shirt is essentially minimalist pomp, and a great gem at that. I do hope that this collective, full of ideas, and already quite acclaimed with worthy critical reviews and even some airplay on BBC Radio 3, will eventually get the support they need in order to release their debut album.