Femur keep levelling up with ‘One Last Dance’
If someone asks me about the best gig I’ve ever been to, my mind always goes back to Sheffield, to a basement venue that no longer exists, and to one band: Femur.
Most people living in the city, or if they’ve heard the vibrations coming out of it, would agree. Femur have established themselves as the Sheffield band, and specifically the Sheffield live band, proven by the show they put on as the last local act to play the iconic venue. They might as well have demolished the place there and then with the way that room was shaking, and I watched from the side, watching as Felix, the singer, bounced off stage and completely disappeared amongst the crashing waves of the crowd.
Local bands from a scene like Sheffield are always interesting, though. Breaking out of your area can be tough, especially when Sheffield is so caught in the shadow of Manchester with its more established big industry connections. But Femur are doing it, they’re taking their local darling status and growing it elsewhere – from the Tramlines mainstage, levelling up within their own town, to Glastonbury and beyond. On February 28th, they’ll be taking it to London, to play the Far Out gig at The Old Blue Last.
A song like ‘One Last Dance’ is the legs that carry them. Femur are a great band to throw yourself around to, and admittedly, when I first discovered them, that’s almost solely how they felt as everyone would go crazy at their gigs, then go home and just wait for the next. But over time, the quality of the recordings has not only matched the quality of their gigs, but overtakes it as the band present more and more interestingly layered and textured recordings that sound as good in your headphones as they do pummeling out of sound systems.
‘One Last Dance’ represents another step up in that. The energy is still more than there, but there’s clear care in the composition, a lighter hand applied even in the chaos. As a perfect follow-up to ‘P.O.P’, it’s another statement from a band with laser-focused intentions, still with all the fight and passion to go beyond the locals, but keep their initial spark more than intact.
Femur are a band that should be shredding at Wide Awake, shaking the ground at 2000Trees, booming from somewhere in the foliage of Green Man. They’re a band that should be opening up for the big leagues of rock and completely stealing their spotlight until they swap places. At The Old Blue Last, we have no doubt the floor will be threatening to buckle from the movement, as their scale of sound will barely fit. And ‘One Last Dance’ bottles it.
Femur are playing The Season Finale at The Old Blue Last on February 28th alongside Jeanie and the Whiteboys and GETNER. Tickets are on sale now.
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