Polly Mackey and The Pleasure Principle [Live]

Wrexham - 22 July 2009

July 25, 2009, 11:13 AM

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Wrexham - where's Wrexham? Small North Wales town - so can anyone who plays here be any good? Or is it just a local place for local people?

The only venue of note, Central Station, has a decent history of getting the right up and coming bands - recently Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Cage the Elephant, further back New Young Pony Club, even Kasabian for god's sake. Promoters Don't Die Just Yet deserve a mention for making the more interesting stuff at the Central happen.

So, rainy Welsh Wednesday night, paid the money, got the stamp on the hand, braved the posses of teenage girls, sat through some pretty average support bands and one that was better than expected. There is a twist here - The Neat were originally down as headline - even the posters said so - but somewhere in the week before they got moved down the bill. Sadly I wouldn't drive an hour in the rain on another Wednesday night to see them again despite the Ian Curtis like pose.

And on to the main attraction - Polly Mackey, and as she phrases it on Myspace - her band The Pleasure Principle. By now there were maybe 150 people here, the stage set up in the bar with those lights they used to advertise on the back of Mad Comic - torches that shine and make the light darker. Polly Mackey. One to watch out for? Worth watching? On the verge? There are just so many good musicians around , that really is the question.

Polly Mackey and The Pleasure Principle have been making their own luck by going to SXSW (where they got some great reviews) and then via a competition they won the right to play at Benicassim. Funnily enough I know something about competitions - you have to get yourself to the start line, buy the ticket, whatever, no one else will do that for you, Svengalis don't come listening outside your bathroom while you sing in the shower.

Starting off the set, Polly Mackey was, if not nervous, maybe a little hesitant. Put yourself in her shoes. Yes - she has her band and plenty of support but she is still, what, 17, 18? I know that's nothing in the music biz, but in real terms it is. The venue is decent enough but you are on a small stage in a bar with people walking back and forth to to buy drinks, and if there aren't enough audience, the view from the stage is directly of the entrance to the toilets.

Polly Mackey and the band started off muzzy, that's the word, for the first two tracks. Hoarse but sweet female voice, good to average indie pop veering more to rock than anything else. During which time Polly's guitar decides it's had enough. She seems half expecting this. Rather than messing about she asked for the guy who was on stage first , he was still in the house, she promptly borrowed his guitar. All done pretty quick, plugged in, quick strum, guitar still warm, no need to tune up.

And into the third number "The Wall". Whoa - ears, pay attention, what was that? I'd heard this one as a rough mix whilst checking out the Polly Mackey Myspace, where it is showing a mere 320 plays but it wasn't just familiarity, this and next track "The Way It Works" really were in the next division. Polly's voice really came through. I'm no musician, I can best describe it as a minor chord shining under the rust and creating its own space. That essential slight imperfection that makes lead singers stand out, that imperfection that almost makes for perfect.

The band are young, thank God they haven't got that studied dirty rock star attitude yet. They were moving in waves on that tiny stage, bobbing up and down in rhythm. Fantastic. The next song was a cover of Fake Plastic Trees. Sadly, this was so-so, nothing much had been added to the original. I looked around and the audience had started talking. Drop the covers Polly, they're no good unless you reinvent them, write something else of your own as good as "The Wall".

Thankfully next up was the third song that's also on Myspace, "Too Real" and we were back into quality territory. One more song after that and it was over, as they say, all too quickly. Enough people dashing up to stage to press the flesh, I left to spend the drive home deciding what I'd just seen. It might still be in patches, but Polly Mackey isn't just a local young singer. That voice is enough on its own. I don't want to use clichés like "warm" and "bruised". I've read the comparisons and I'm avoiding those as well. I disagree with the "Chan" one, that's just lazy.

Yes my friends, laugh at my ongoing enchantment with female singers. But there was a definite something in Polly Mackey's voice tonight, when it all came together. It was personal, it reached through, the hook was there. When put all together, if they keep making their own luck the way they have been Polly Mackey and her band the Pleasure Principle really could be on the cusp.

Polly Mackey & The Pleasure Principle on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

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