- A blurry, blurry Post War Years
I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t much in the mood for gigging – but I never back down on a challenge, so here’s this week’s post!
The combination of band names on the bill is very pleasing, isn’t it? If nothing else, Uneven Blonde have done a terrific job there. This was the launch of their new night Proof, which they’ll be doing the last Friday of every month. Live bands will start the evening off, then the Uneven Blonde DJs take you through until around 1.30 – and all for £0! Pretty sweet deal (and no, they’ve not asked me to promote them).
I did that thing where I turn up a little too early, so The Bowery was mostly a bloke-fest when I arrived. I found myself somewhere to perch, stage-side, then watched as the place began to slowly swell with hipsters.
Post War Years kick off with an intergalactic sound concocted from synths, keyboards and a piercing drum. It fades, then rises once more with added bass and a smattering of something shiny. There’s a whiff of the 80s in the air, circulated by the jolting vocals from both keyboardists Tom and Simon.
They start drifting back to Earth with an intro not too dissimilar to Bloc Party‘s ‘I Still Remember’, rolling into intriguing ambient pop, although their appears to be something not quite right with the mics, as their voices aren’t travelling well.
A quick word with a techie and their set is under way again, and continues to get more terrestrial – even a little tropical. Guitars are thrown into the mix and harmonies about octave apart – works an absolute treat. There’s a hint of city-surf (determined to coin this phrase), but it’s certainly not over-powering, and even helps to create more diversity – not that they’re lacking it.
They finish on new single ‘All Eyes’ and seemingly annunciate their lyrics more (well, makes sense to do so), whilst still keeping their Hawaiian electro bubbling underneath, but in a dark and deeper tone. There’s even a few “Wooooo”s thrown in for the future hoards of festival goers to echo – which they undoubtedly will.
Now, dear readers, riddle me this – what the hell is it with men of the indie persuasion and over-sized shirts? The lead singer of Peace, Harrison Koisser, was wearing one and I couldn’t comprehend it. And I had quite a while to mull over it, as they started 25 minutes late, due to some technical issues.
However, when they started they started with some whooshing rock and honolua bass (the ubiquitous trend strikes again), so I forgave them for the delay.
Harrison (dynamite name, by the way), growled at the audience between every song, making it very difficult to tell whether he was introducing the next song , thanking people, or telling an anecdote.
Sampled synth scales underlay a pretty tasty indie rock number, with high-pitched riffs and moody floor-staring. There’s a hint of hip-swishing swagger, followed by furious strumming and topped off with those sampled synth scales again – a damn good sandwich of a song. If only we could have caught it’s title.
The one time I did manage to understand a bit of what Harrison said to the over encroaching crowd, he was introducing a song as one which he’d written in Sheffield, and was emotional for him. Interesting.
It feels a lot different to the rest of their material. Guitars and a tambourine take us through the verses, creating a delicate yet not vulnerable lead up to the choruses. Like the rest of the set, the lyrics are hard to pick out – techincal difficulties have been sprinkled throughout the night – but the delivery is aching and lovelorn.
City-surf is coughed back up again, if only slightly, for their last song, with plenty of sampling, “Ooooh”s and “Aaaah”s. As crowd pleasing as it is, it feels a little bit like they’re covering over the previous song. Then again, no one wants to end on a down note.
There’s a gorgeous rumble to it, and a traditional rock tumbling drum roll end to-boot. All in all, I can certainly see why they’re being heralded as the future of indie - I just hope they get their equipment sorted before everyone else sets their sights on them.
Would you believe it, but my next gig is actually on Monday, what with Cave Painting playing SOYO. I’ve been there on nights out, but it’ll be interesting to see how it fairs as a live venue. Then again, seeing as they put on a gig every Monday, I’m pretty sure they know their stuff. Looking forward to it quite a bit.
