|That sound being a colossal 10-armed substation of tempered ambition and amplification that, within the bat of an eyelid, can power down to the echo of footsteps, before snapping back larger and louder than ever before. It’s a bastard to get right – reigning in the piercing frequencies of three rival guitars, oddball synths, borrowed basses and lateral drums – but dagnammit on a good night it can sound mega. |It’s also a sound that’s taken two years to shape and countless players to mould; with the only point of balance being the consistently elevated quality of Simpson’s melody-anchored song-craft. Break-ups and battles with faith, cultivated by expectation and her unhappy bedfellow despair, spoon-feed the stimulus, while glowing reviews and over 4700 myspace friends will it to overachieve. |An anteroom in a former East London canal-side chapel is Prego’s home, complete with ProTools, a grubby sofa and two soft-porn flatmates. In winter it’s freezing, in summer unbearable. But, although in desperate need of ashtrays and a paint job, it’s their own. |From here the church newspaper receptionist, electrical engineer, budding illustrator, fine-artist turned studio boffin and film student make music things that have so far turned up on a top selling compilation (Spring 2005’s ‘The Suffolk Explosion’) and a sold out EP (Autumn 2005’s four-song ‘Primaries’). They’re good records with even better press. |This year has seen Prego already earmarked and aired by Steve Lamacq, named as one of Rocksound magazine’s Hot 100 for 2007, and voted as one of the best unsigned bands of 2006 just behind Enter Shikari. Having already triumphed at this year’s Wireless Festival and with their debut single ‘Cause and Resolve’ scheduled for release later this year, 2007 promises to be a landmark year for the band. The sound is one that fiddles with space and fills time with somersaults and trickery hitherto never put to tape. |Ah, what the hey with past-bedtime hype. Have a listen and make up your own mind… |
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