Communions at The Lexington

Communions are a guitar band that run with more than a few influences, but inarguably dance to the beat of their own drum. Made up of brothers Martin and Mads Rehof alongside Jacob van Deurs Formann and Frederik Lind Köppen, the four-piece were recently signed to Fat Possum records and are currently touring their debut album, Blue.

On stage they exude the effortless cool of the indie guitar band, but are refreshingly modest. The brothers Rehof sway and let their music talk for them, a mixture of atmospheric delay- and reverb-friendly guitar, 80s post-punk baselines and tub-thumping Britpop riffs. Vocally, Martin Rehof sounds something like a more knowing Liam Gallagher and his range is disarmingly high. If Thom Yorke had been into Oasis, it might have sounded something like this.

Eternity, from the group’s new album, is a standout and reaches to be the uptempo festival song they would surely love it to become. The boys trade in their gloomy introspection for angsty infatuation like any self-respecting guitar band and the chorus, “Eternity won’t wait”, is both clever and catchy. When the Danish rockers plumb their back catalogue the audience are treated to a Smiths-y vibe with hi-hat drumming à la The Cure and it is interesting to chart Communion’s growth and to see how they forged their own sound from a plethora of British influences. So Long Sun from their EP Cobblestones is a lament for all things lost, and here the four-piece really seem to have a stake in something great when they are both lyrically introspective and sonically exuberant.

Their stage presence basks in the understated: throughout the entire hour-long set the band collectively speaks no more than six or seven sentences. For those who like their rock’n’roll with a little more, well, rock’n’roll, this may come across as close to indolence. Communions have managed to patch together a vibrant sound by cherry picking from across the spectrum of modern British popular music, though this is not a bad thing – Oasis themselves slavishly echoed The Beatles to great effect. If Communions are discovering new truths, they are surely doing so by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Stuart McMillan
Photo: Tom Spray

For further information about Communions and future events visit here.

Listen to Eternity here: