I first encountered the English-singing Madrid band last October when they sent me a friend invite on Myspace. As a matter of course I clicked on them for a listen and that was the beginning of an exciting build-up to my first experience of them live on Friday evening. During this time I've listened to the album so often I'd probably recognise miniature samples of it in a DJ session. This is a great advantage because music needs time to mature in your mind, become familiar and link itself to feelings and images. In this way, the lyrics and harmonies become part of your own experience. On the other hand, there is the danger of your musicians being a disappointment when they play the songs live and most of us can probably remember wishing we'd never seen groups lose their rapture on stage before us. But the excitement of a gig is underpinned by nervous anticipation and you can guarantee the band will have it even more than you.
You've probably worked out is that this article wouldn't have been written if Lam Rim hadn't come up with the goods on Friday so 'the Titanic syndrome' of you knowing how it's going to end has already dug its cat-like claws in. But wait just one mouse-clicking moment! The truth is that Lam Rim added an unexpected twist to the plot by putting on an even better show than I was expecting. This was a relief as I had taken two friends with me who had no idea what they were going to see and trusted my recommendation. They both enjoyed the show and, thankfully, my reputation remained intact.
The first thing you had to give Lam Rim credit for was their arrangement on the small stage of Café La Palma, particularly when you consider that Joâo, the singer, was sometimes at the keyboard and others playing the acoustic guitar. Despite this limitation, Noel - the guitarist - moved comfortably around his part of the stage, which might have been easy were he a dwarf, but I have to stand on a small box to be on his level. Whether because of height or personality, he was comfortable on stage and demonstrated his skills with an air of calm confidence.
They kicked off playing the songs from the website and album 'Eleven Pieces of Something' which many of the audience were familiar with thanks to their availability on the net. A sign of excellence has to be noted here as their live versions were faithful to the album and high in performance quality. Bands in the struggle for a successful future fall loosely into two categories: those who aren't good enough musicians to go any further and those who work incredibly hard to make their concerts the best thing you'll ever hear. Lam Rim belong to the latter because you can see in their performance how much willpower and good faith has gone into perfecting each song and presenting an entirely united group who love what they're doing.
The final half of the concert was made up of songs I'd never heard before butleft me wanting to hear them again. They proudly carried the tattoo of Joâo's composition and lyrical style and completed the set that emanated the specific identity and image of Lam Rim; sometimes varying the pace and emotion butalways keeping you firmly rooted in exactly the same landscape that the other songs had built up.
Musical tastes and expectations can vary, but Lam Rim provide a professional standard and are in no way a waste of energy, time and money to see live or listen to. Their gigs are a guaranteed good night out, one which I hope to repeat many times.
Orlando Robson