 16/08/2007 Malajube may be a French-Canadian rock quintet, but don’t let that put you off! These guys play music that is so damn good, with such a facemelting intensity, that you might actually like the fact there’s blood dripping from your ears and that your left leg has suddenly developed an uncontrollable twitch.
For the uninitiated, Malajube are a band of immense dimensions that manage to contain a myriad of contradictions within their tightly wound sound. They have a joyful melodiousness to much of their work, yet they retain an inner force akin to the more industrial outfits on the rock scene. Little wonder then that Malajube garnered so much praise right across the board at this year’s SXSW Festival.
After only one previous gig in London’s Buffalo Bar, the band came straight from Texas en route to Paris – where they were supporting Arcade Fire – for a gig in the Old Blue Last. It marked the arrival of a group who bring with them more invigoration than a bottle of Evian. As the walls shook and the band played in the dark, having switched off the stage lights, one thing was clear: the crowd that had shoehorned themselves into the venue did not seem bothered by the language barrier and busied themselves instead with flailing about to some of the most spatially heavy tunes this side of the Equator. The two members of Malajube who are fuelling themselves in perhaps the grottiest restaurant in Chinatown before a gig at Madame JoJo’s remember the night fondly and describe its success modestly. ‘Maybe it’s just timing or maybe it’s that we just play good music,’ guitarist and vocalist Julien Mineau says with a bashful grin. ‘But we thought it would just be France and Belgium who would get it. To be welcomed by London is pretty neat.’
Their goal of playing music to fresh listeners who can discover means embarking on a gruelling European tour over the coming months. Taking in Norway, Denmark, Germany, Britain, Ireland, Spain and France, Malajube are preparing to give us all a lesson in their international language. Mineau has his mallet out for breaking down some barriers. ‘We started the band in the Anglophone part of Montreal and sometimes we get better responses from Anglophone or other audiences.’ When pushed for a reason as to this he says ‘When we make an album we try to make it a feeling. We focused on the music. I sing in my own language, and it’s a bonus when you can understand the lyrics, but the principal of Malajube is not about the words I don’t think.’
At times in music, twee lyrics can distract from what would otherwise be a stonking tune. Thankfully, Malajube could be singing about the joys of subsistence living and composting for all most of us know. There is no option other than to get lost in their spontaneous and tender melodic side whilst jerking about like marionettes upon the strings that these puppet masters pull with their instruments. As with any good band, Malajube feed off the energy that they generate, but they then translate that into some freeform musical ejaculations that many other boys with guitars seem to shy away from in desperate fear. In typical metaphorical French fashion, Mineau explains the band’s relationship with the audience thus: ‘You need sweat from them too or else you just feel like a big monkey.’ Simians they may not be, but Malajube are certainly rattling the bars on the cage with the intention of running amok amongst us all.
|
