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Back in the 80s, supergroups were all the rage. Like one of those fantasy
football competitions where you are able to assemble a dream team consisting
of whichever Premiership players take your fancy, you would get members of
different bands getting together to create the ultimate line-up.
For instance, The Travelling Wilburys consisted of Bob Dylan, Tom Petty,
Jeff Beck, George Harrison and Roy Orbison; while The Power Station was
Robert Palmer backed by several members of Duran Duran.
You would think it would be hazardous to have so many egos jostling for
space in the same band – but nevertheless, with the arrival of Enon to these
shores, it seems the concept of the supergroup is making a return.
Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, all three members of Enon have histories
with notable bands from the U.S. underground – John Schmersal (guitar,
synths, vocals) with Brainiac, Toko Yasuda (bass, synth, vocals) with Blonde
Redhead, and Matt Schulz (drums) with The Lab Partners.
Between them, the trio make a magnificent racket, with boy-girl vocals
traded by John and Toko over a backdrop of bleepy electronics and
rump-shaking bass.
They also have an interesting line in song titles, with
tracks on their latest album ‘Hocus Pocus’ including ‘Daughter in the House
of Fools’ and ‘Murder Sounds’.
Live, Enon are well worth seeing. The band’s two front people both have
excellent stage presence, with Toko exuding a detached Japanese cool, and
John dancing around dementedly looking a bit like Shaggy out of Scooby Doo.
There is one song where, clearly having been unable to think of a chorus,
John just laughs manically into the mic, sounding like Sid James on
ketamine.
But that was just one blip in an otherwise excellent set that ends
all too soon.
Who knows, following the success in the last few years of fellow New Yorkers
The Strokes, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol and The Rapture, maybe Enon could
be the next Big Apple band to be gazing moodily at us from the front covers
of magazines in WH Smiths.
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