However, after a few minutes of some of the most eclectic music to gain mainstream popularity in a while – tonight’s show is a sell-out – it becomes apparent that this isn’t just ‘folk hip-hop’. It’s ‘happy-clappy-hippy-hip-hop’. A Nizlopi gig is a bit like a sing-a-long sermon, complete with joyous hand-waving, clapping and, at one point, a mass choral event with the crowd performing three part harmony. “This song is kind of like a prayer”, jokes singer Luke. His congregation obviously agree. The World Music crossover of Paul Simon’s Graceland can be heard in their sound, Badly Drawn Boy’s lo-fi feel creeps in, and there’s even room for the odd hint of David Gray, but what really marks this performance out though is the attitude. As well as a folk sound, Nizlopi have the folk ethos of audience participation and informality, giving a real sense of inclusion. It also means the band don’t have to take themselves too seriously. On the whole, Nizlopi’s earnest style is a warming affair, but the odd lyrical lapse leaves you cold: “like a sonnet, she’s so on it” is, frankly, lame. Furthermore, some songs do reach epic lengths, detracting from their impact. A rap in an American accent is pretty embarrassing too, but these are really just minor quibbles. The whole point of Nizlopi’s folk feel is the fun and the interactive, and in this they succeed masterfully: as if to serve the point, a man in a John Virgo waistcoat leaps out of the audience and onto the stage mid-set and starts MCing incomprehensibly. Nizlopi formed when their two members were 13 and a childish innocence and naivety remains in their music. More importantly, though, so does a sense of fun and optimism and this attitude is the driving force behind Nizlopi’s innovation and deserved success. They may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but tonight, it was an almost spiritual affair. Nizlopi are as strange as Bob Dylan breakdancing and are all the more fun for it.
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