By James Queralt
Wednesday night saw Liverpool-based four-piece The Night Café take their headline UK tour to The Bullingdon’s back room, much to the delight of Oxford’s latest generation of indie-heads, all of whom – soaked in beer and involved in an hour-long game of ‘your sweat or mine’ – were able to revel in the young band’s reverberating kinetic energy. The Night Café’s ultra-young crowd – not quite In the Night Garden but in some cases maybe relying on their driving licence-wielding mate to get the beers in – managed to fill the venue remarkably early, perhaps to catch support band Plaza, or perhaps to simply soak up the atmosphere and mix it up with likeminded fans their own age. Those beers (mine included) were soon on the floor as the band’s appearance onstage quickly sent the audience into rapture. “Let’s have a fucking dance,” requested ketwigged front-man Sean Martin, and the sell-out audience were happy to oblige. The band ensured Martin’s appeal was met as they opened with crowd-favourite Mixed Signals, a jangly, end-of-summer power pop ballad, complete with catchy riffs and melodic vocals broken up by 60s-inspired bass lines. While the band’s sound is, for all intents and purposes, nothing markedly new or unique – instead adhering, often effectively, to the aforementioned indie rock tropes and flavours of the month – I was impressed with the polish and confidence with which they pull it off. One song bled seamlessly into the next, which allowed the set to segue from a focus on the band’s punchier, upbeat, Macabees-esque fan favourites to some of their darker, more melancholic recent material. 2015’s Addicted acts as a precursor to this. The band have previously cited their shared appreciation for Liverpool icons The Beatles and The Coral – naturally, perhaps, for a young band starting up in that neck of the woods. But Addicted’s slow build up and rolling, echoing guitar work is more akin to The Police or Joshua Tree-era U2. Both here and on recent shoegazey release Turn, the band demonstrate a maturity and confidence in towing the line between lighter and darker tones in a live setting, which can only come from countless hours of studio rehearsals, and it’s certainly clear that these lads have put the time in in that respect. While their individual tracks might not always appeal to listeners outside of their fanbase, their well-rehearsed, multifaceted swagger certainly had the Bully rocking, and the venue’s closed-in, low-ceilinged layout was perfect to receive this. 
This was not The Night Café’s first go at rocking Oxford, having previously appeared at The Cellar in October and even sneaking onto Truck Festival’s mainstage back in the summer in support of headliners The Wombats, with whom they toured, and are set to support again this year. Here’s hoping that the band can return again one day with a more unique identity to match their slick onstage synergy. Their influences are eclectic enough; I briefly caught up with Martin after the show, and he highlighted rapper Anderson Paak and Canadian electro-hip hop producer Kaytranada as contemporary favourites of the band. If they can take such a wide musical scope and apply it to their own music as they seek to mature their sound, then Oxford might just have struck a relationship with one of the country’s most promising bands.