The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicLive music

Dan Michaelson and the Coastguards at the Slaughtered Lamb

Dan Michaelson and the Coastguards at the Slaughtered Lamb | Live review
16 September 2014
Joe Manners Lewis
Avatar
Joe Manners Lewis
16 September 2014

Music review

Joe Manners Lewis
★★★★★

Highlights

Burning Hearts

Links

Twitter Facebook Website

Not much of Absentee’s upbeat indie stylings have made it into Dan Michaelson and the Coastguards, but thankfully Michaelson’s take on country-inspired folk (or possibly folk-inspired country) is just as refreshing as anything he’s done before. In the intimate basement of the Slaughtered Lamb, there’s a five-piece ready to take their audience on a journey to the heart of heartbreak.

Michaelson himself is a frontman from a different time. He radiates a well-practiced kind of cool, to the point where he almost becomes a caricature, looking like a version of Gary Oldman (had his life taken a slightly different route). He mumbles endearingly, although not altogether soberly, between tracks, with only the odd hesitant remark betraying any kind of nervousness.

The singer’s croaking vocals are as distinctive, though not necessarily distinct, as ever. His voice has similarities with fellow grumblers Nick Cave and Shane McGowan, but it blends into the arrangements, providing just another comforting piece of the cohesive whole.

With the Coastguards, this is a five-piece displaying the full spectrum of facial hair, performing track after track of interesting, mellow folk music. There’s a lot of guitar work in the band’s makeup, but for the most part the mixture of bass, electric, pedal steel and good old-fashioned acoustic guitar is used effectively to create a warm wall of sound that’s easy to pull apart to its component pieces.

Anyone who’s listened to last month’s Distance will be aware of the kind of heartbreak that Michaelson injects into his songwriting. There’s no self pity, nor obscuring, indulgent metaphor, but rather a lyrical examination of the sadness caused by fresh absence. When Michaelson tells the audience that next they’re going to play a heartbreaking song, “No shit!” is the timely response. Fans know what they’re in for as all the songs discuss heartbreak of one kind or another.

Dan Michaelson’s sound has matured plenty since his start in the music industry, developing into a satisfying blend of melancholy lyrics and comforting arrangements. An intimate venue like the Slaughtered Lamb is a fine place to witness the practised performer and his talented bandmates firsthand, just make sure to prepare your heartstrings.

★★★★★

Joe Manners Lewis

For further information about Dan Michaelson and the Coastguards visit here.

Watch the video for Burning Hearts here:

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Related Items

More in Live music

The Amazons launch How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me? at Live Nation

Bev Lung
Read More

Warpaint at the Roundhouse

★★★★★
Jasper Watkins
Read More

Paolo Nutini at the 100 Club

★★★★★
Jonathan Marshall
Read More

Viagra Boys at the Forum

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Tool at the O2 Arena

★★★★★
Peter Chow
Read More

Twin Atlantic at the Roundhouse

★★★★★
Mark Worgan
Read More

Metronomy at Alexandra Palace

★★★★★
Diletta Lobuono
Read More

Larkin Poe at Shepherd’s Bush Empire

★★★★★
Bev Lung
Read More

Tom Meighan at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in pictures

The editorial unit
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Music review

Joe Manners Lewis
★★★★★

Highlights

Burning Hearts

Links

Twitter Facebook Website

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Albert Adrià reopens Enigma on 7 June as a “fun-dining” restaurant and cocktail bar
    Food & Drinks
  • Paolo Nutini at the 100 Club
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Crimes of the Future: Three new clips from David Cronenberg’s dystopian body horror film
    Cannes
  • The Father and the Assassin at the National Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Plan 75
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Decision to Leave (Heojil Kyolshim)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • November (Novembre)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Forever Young (Les Amandiers)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • “Ruben is wonderful at picking holes in our behaviour and our egos”: Woody Harrelson, Ruben Östlundand and cast at the Triangle of Sadness press conference
    Cannes Film Festival 2022
  • Summer Scars (Nos Cérémonies)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Decision to Leave (Heojil Kyolshim)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Emergency
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Men
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Triangle of Sadness
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Aftersun
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Ballet School at Basement | Live review
Forbidden Broadway at the Vaudeville | Theatre review