8

Old Curiosity Shop

Long turnaround times in the Rock Sound Cave suggest that there might not be much of a turnout for Obscura but thankfully the tent fills up and there's a decent crowd in place by the time the band take to the stage.

A five piece outfit centred around front woman Nerys they play melodic indie rock that seems quite welcome to the majority of the crowd on a sunny afternoon. In the main it's all very nice and safe with no real edge to it and whilst very good at what they do I'm not sure they have enough to achieve wider appeal. There is the odd exception with songs like 'Super Bitch', which is both catchy and edgy. By comparison tracks like 'The Storm' only reach around gale force three or four and that's about the level of their impact.

Nerys gives a good performance, as does bassist Ross, who pulls out some good bass runs. They are entertaining to watch but the strength of material overall isn't that strong, they finish strongly however with what is probably the best song of the set. Obscura certainly have potential but if they are really going to make it I suspect they will have to filter out some of the weaker songs and come up with some killers. Their destiny is in their own hands.