Melts and Grips and Burns and Scars

Anna Siemiaczko on Pete and the Pirates and Cardiff's Millennium Music Hall

A sparesly-populated gig that kicked off with a humble handshake and an encouraging “come forward” muttered from the unnecessarily barred stage rocketed to the Pirates’ peaking standard within a few seconds of 'Knots', followed by a number of songs off their new kitten-loving release One Thousand Pictures all of which the awkwardly scattered crowd took to straight away.

Tommy Sanders’ love sighs and memoirs take up another dimension with the likes of 'Cold Black Kitty' and 'Winter 1' with a slightly changed dynamic leaning towards electro and darker guitar beats with a subtle Art Brut aftertaste. Riding on the brilliant old b-side 'Bright Lights' and the Sanders’ side project’s true crystal 'Half Moon Street', the Pirates are delivering their most diverse record to date, which was captured and beautifully released during the modern pop’s happy hour of the duration of the Pirates’ gig. Pop moving your limbs wherever it grabs you, opening your mouth in beautiful lyricism and thundering you with fresh authenticity and no compromises. Pop touching upon love with the endearing simplicity of 'Half Moon Street' and passion of 'Jennifer', with seductively pouting lips, a cheeky smile and a stripped honest glimpse that melts and grips and burns and scars. This glimpse of the happy master-pop is exactly what the Pirates have once again proved to be despite the hostile surroundings and lack of promotion in the city of Cardiff.

Their uniquely catchy guitar rhythms bouncing off cold and self lacking Millennium Music Hall walls made the undeservedly few faces experience the rare raw beauty of pop. They lifted us up in the air in enthusiastic chanted taps and beats with the long established charms of 'Dry Wings' or 'Mr. Understanding' and swayed us around the micro-millennium universe with ballads of the new and the old Pirate gems that gracefully embrace the new romanticism of modern music.

© 2011 Anna Siemiaczko