Anyone fancy a Balkan holiday? There’s simply no need when there’s a band so diverse and wacky right on your doorstep. Think Foals after a European road trip to Bulgaria, Serbia and Albania and there you have it: ‘Deathray Trebuchay’.
Upon first approach it’s questionable how anyone could even begin to comprehend, or even like, this type of music; an indistinguishable sound that conjures images of gypsy fields and wooden caravans in some remote corner of the world. Then you have the trumpets that bizarrely add a musical ‘West End’ sound (elements derived from lead singer and classically trained composer Llywelyn ap Myrddin) epitomising all the energy and ‘feverish levels of excitement’ that would be expected upon watching a live show.
It is without a doubt that the Balkan influences are predominant in the whole aura of the band; a sound that was inspired by the Guca Trumpet Festival, a Serbian festival that takes place every year, a festival that has recently been voted by ThisIsTheLife.com as the ‘best festival world’. Clearly there’s something obviously lacking in our British festivals of Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury that we really need to address. And obviously that key components is the trumpets.
It is at this festival that the crowds go wild to the sound of, er, trumpets and what enthused Llywelyn to create a band that is able to mingle the sounds of jazz, gypsy, ska, punk and indie rock into such a concoction that people actually want to listen. Once you get past the indecipherable lyrics (not even in English!) and utter craziness then there is something strangely catchy, mysterious and intriguing about this music of frenetic rhythms and incredible force that somehow, well, works.
Number 6: 5/10
