By Mark Ansell

I'd never heard anything like The Edmund Fitzgerald before. It's a 'maf rock' band influenced by the guitar pop of Sonic Youth and the feel of Mogwai. The band seems to be going places - they're in John Peel's Record Box for June 04 with their track 'Horses'.

The young headliners, The Edmund Fitzgerald, are made up of Yannis, aged 18, on lead guitar and vocals and Lina, 19, on rhythm guitar, both from Oxford. Finally Jack, 18, on the drums is from Thame. His swift, furious drum beats expertly kept the timing of the instrumental songs. The fact that the band has no bassist and few vocals could have been a disadvantage, but neither were necessary for what they wanted to achieve - disjointed, drawn out, technical instrumental tracks.

Having been disappointed by the warm-up bands, Geisha and Hunting Lodge, I was thrilled to hear the brilliantly maintained repetitive guitar riffs and disjointed structure of the headliner's songs. The Edmund Fitzgerald shortest song is 6 minutes; the longest, and best is 20 minutes! However the time flew by as the crowd was mesmerized by the connection between the band members, lead guitarist Yannis had his eyes focused on drummer Jack. The band developed their songs so cleverly.

The heat in the venue became unbearable as the night wore on. By the last song, the walls were crawling with sweat! Nice! All this only adding to the atmosphere.

So, I and the rest of the crowd were left buzzing from the incredible songs of The Edmund Fitzgerald. Well worth the £4 entry fee. The band's stop-start instrumental style is innovative, especially considering they are a relatively young band. How refreshing it is to see a young band being so adventurous and most importantly, pulling it off.