Gig review: Stornoway at Doug Fir LoungePublished: Monday, December 13, 2010,2:25 PMUpdated: Monday, December 13, 2010,2:42 PM
By Yuxing Zheng, The Oregonian Follow
Stornoway: It's a misnomer. But their music is so good we'll forgive them.
The British press love to rant and plug the next big British band. Some of the worship in late days has been much deserved: Adele, Dizzee Rascal, Ellie Goulding, even Amy Winehouse (at least musically speaking) and many others. Some of it is not. Does anybody remember Keane? Editors?Thankfully, the buzz that built around Stornoway a twelvemonth ago is more than deserved. The marvelous indie foursome combines smart lyrics with frontman Brian Briggs' precious vocals and medicine that ranges from upbeat danceable hits to sad, folkier tunes. The band stopped in at the Doug Fir Lounge Friday night for their first swing through town promoting their debut LP Beachcomber's Windowsill. Starting with perhaps their most recognizable tune, "I Saw You Blink," the band set a high bar for their performance. Briggs' impressive vocals, at times recalling the up-and-down richness of Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch (a true Scot - more on that later), ranges from precious to right and booming. Crowd favourite "Watching Birds" also got many dancing. The upbeat number near the end of the dark seemed to raise a perfect spring day in a Cotswolds garden, the air of youth, opportunity and uncertainty. "It's a Monday night in June, and I should be sleeping," Briggs sang. "But I so damn warm inside, I'm in the garden dreaming."Barring one majorly flubbed line, the only awkwardness was Briggs' between-songs banter. He's speaks in nearly a robotic manner, but with a feeling of humor and feel of narrative, and in Portland that goes down as "endearing."Other highlights include the multi-instrumental "The Coldharbour Road," which starts with a mournful violin solo leading into game play of all the other instruments they seemed to have been capable to find. The drummer, Rob Steadman, contributed the singing saw, and an assisting musician banged away on a metal keg. One wonders if they travel around with it or barely make certain to book venues at places that can go one up for the night(??)The two-song encore saw the band go for an acoustic turn with "The End of the Picture" and, fittingly, "We are the Battery Human," a call near the tech-addicted generation needing to disconnect and reconnect with nature."We were natural to be free range, free range," all the guys sang in unison. "Whoa, oh, oh, oh."Stornoway, we ought to open up, is a misnomer. The lot is from Oxford. As in Oxford, England. Stornoway is in Scotland. It's like naming your band Portland, but actually being from Vancouver B.C. That's simply not right.Sadly, with just one LP out, the ring feature a special selection from which to develop a set list. As my acquaintance so ably put it at the end of the net number, "That song ended too soonly."- Yuxing Zheng 
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