RED HOUSE PAINTERS

RED HOUSE PAINTERS (Mean Fiddler, Dublin)

Red House Painters are the anti-rock band. There will be nothing so vulgar as loud guitars, big choruses or onstage pyrotechnics here tonight. The corollary, of course, is that there will not be much excitement either.

Despite having four albums to their credit, this is the first visit of the San Franciscan cult act to Ireland. They are rewarded by a near capacity crowd at the Mean Fiddler – which isn’t bad going for a band who seem to wear their lack of commerciality as a badge of honour.

Things begin auspiciously enough with singer Mark Kozelek's solo acoustic rendition of 'Uncle Joe'. When he is joined by the rest of the band, they launch into that rarest of specimens, a Red House Painters crowd-pleaser, in the shape of 'Whiskey In The Jar'. As might be expected, this is rather lacking in full-on rock'n'roll commitment a la Thin Lizzy. Nevertheless, it is strangely affecting, with Kozelek's plaintive tones highlighting the sadness of the lyrics. The evocative 'Twenty Four' soon follows.

As time goes on, though, the one-dimensional nature of the Painters' material becomes a major problem. In style, lyrical content, and tempo, the songs merge into one another without any distinguishing characteristics. As a result, even their most powerful moments lose their impact.

While music need not necessarily be raucous and wild 100% of the time, it has to be captivating at some level. This simply isn't always the case with Red House Painters, and that failing is exacerbated in a live context: their songs may be fine in a darkened bedsit, but they just don't work over the course of two hours in a sweaty club.

The gig ends with Kozelek alone once again, this time performing 'Katy's Song'. The hardcore fans are still there, although even their ardour seems to be waning. If Red House Painters really want to convince the casual listener, they need to add many more colours to their palette – urgently.

• Niall Stanage