Sambassadeur
Live @ The Betsey Trotwood, London, 04/09/05
Saturday night at a smokey pub in Clerkenwell, London. The clock's just gone 10 and in the basement of The Betsey Trotwood music history is being made. Never ever have a band played such a small venue. Picture your living room. Now divide it by three and you have the room that Sambassadeur played in. Three guitars, a bass and an Ipod. That and a constant elbow in your side is what you got for your fiver. Not that it was difficult, but the gig was sold out! Their sound is comparable with fellow label mates Radio Dept. They have a similar fondness of guitars. Sambassadeur build their music around melodies carefully crafted for their lead guitarist. A tall bass player with sideburns and an mp3-player courtesy of Apple supplied the beats. Unfortunately some of their background drumming sounded like they've just put the same song on repeat. I like the idea of pre-recorded beats which is less noisy than a drum kit. It gives the melodies a bigger rein but I doubt it would work at Wembley, which, according to one of the singers, is where we'll see them next. Sambassadeur divides the singing between Anna Persson and Daniel Permbo. They literally sing every other song. Anna seems timid. Her voice is quiet and she is almost hiding behind her microphone. That is probably down to the fact that they were playing live, because when you hear her voice recorded on their single "Between the lines", it's strong and in charge. Her colleague, Daniel, is slightly more charismatic and actually managed to say something in between the songs.
Their English label, AC30, describes Sambassadeur's music as "heartfelt, gentle and emotive songs, simple and understated. Pure indie guitar pop from Sweden." My opinion as well
(On a different note. My friend and IAT colleague Per Appelqvist, who also attended the gig, fell madly in love with singer Anna Persson. From a distance, obviously. Too shy to approach her, he had to make due with another pint in the bar.)
- David Hellqvist