Theme Park, The Harley

On this chilly Tuesday night in Sheffield, a thousand screaming pubescent pre-teens are swarming the Motorpoint Arena to lust after pop's golden boys One Direction. Head further into town and, Radio 1 darlings Bastille play The Leadmill to a crowd who probably still think that Jake Bugg is edgy. I'm shunning both of these musical atrocities in search of the bastions of funky indie-pop that are Theme Park.

Initially I was left a bit disappointed with Theme Park's 'Two Hours' EP which, aside from the title track, is a bizarre collection of covers that sounds more like a band in-joke than a serious attempt at getting themselves heard. They redeemed themselves with their self-titled LP, full of poppy grooves like 'Jamaica' and new single 'Tonight', and produced by Ed from Friendly Fires (a band to which comparisons are easily drawn). The band take influence from classic indie-pop acts like Talking Heads or Orange Juice and turn that sound into something fresh.

Having listened to the album all week on repeat I was excited to see if the band's live performance would redeem them further. They kicked off straight away with 'Ghosts' followed by 'Jamaica' which thawed out the audience nicely. The band seemed totally in sync, each member playing in glorious harmony with one another, politely shuffling in place to the laid-back beat. Frontman Miles Haughton's vocals were on point, varying from effortless falsetto to a seductive Byrne-esque lilt.

Despite having a great collection of tracks under their belts, there are also several songs which seem to miss the mark and never really get going. Everything seems slightly underwhelming; Theme Park's music is confident, echoing the well-honed funk of Friendly Fires or even a more laid-back Vampire Weekend, yet they have the unfortunate stage presence of a band still finding their feet. For a young band they're already looking a bit weary, which probably wasn't helped by the slightly lack-lustre crowd. 

Before I drift off altogether, fan favourite 'Milk' grabs my waning attention and gets me back into the spirit of things. The night pans out less like a wild ride at a theme park, and more like a gentle spin on the tea cups. Nevertheless, Theme Park provided a break from the Baltic conditions, got us dancing to their smooth rhythms and transported the crowd away to a more tropical setting, if only for an evening.

Tuesday 19th February, The Harley, Sheffield