Spector//Gabriel Bruce//Braves.
So um Spector….it wasnt the greatest gig, it’s always a disappointment when the support completely overshadow the main act in some respects & you have to wait the longest time you’ve ever waited between bands but yes. -I also got about 3 decent photos all night, the lighting in that venue is useless-
Anyway, Braves. You could barely hear what they were singing, i’m hoping on their part it was sound issues and it was all a bit flimsy at first but from nowhere they seemed to spark to life and get into it genuinely playing quite good indie rockish music. Though with a name like Braves, they’re google impossible but they’re a 3 piece from London, nothing special but nothing bad either.
Next we have Gabriel Bruce, after a long wait in the most crowded Boileroom i’ve ever seen & knowing he was gonna be something special, it was a high mark to live up to, but he did it oh so brilliantly.
Halfway through the set my cousin noted to me, “I feel like i’ve just walked into an episode of The Mighty Boosh” , and that was exactly it.
I read somewhere his music being described as “alternative folk inspired rock”, these people clearly have never listened to him, the music is impossible to classify, it ranged from the weary preaching of Sleep Paralysis to upbeat Cars Not Leaving that could only be described as a disco of the dead…complete with synchronised dance routines.
if you’ve been paying any attention to my blog you should’ve had that on repeat for the past month though..
He started with the cover of Sam Cooke’s Cupid which is equally brilliant and then did some kind of prologue to a rather odd love song (at least i think), nonetheless amazing, but odd. Especially when the lyrics were again impossible to decipher, due to sound issues and the fact his voice is the lovechild of Leonard Cohen & Nick Cave.
The rest of the set was also amazing, the dancing was impeccable & the album is set to be really rather something.
A rather awful video i took of the last song here.
Finally Spector, from the moment they eventually graced the stage with their prescence it hit me that they were not gonna be as good as the previous, i wasn’t intending to compare but it was hard not to, they were good but the songs just felt a bit lifeless up until the very last few where they finally seemed to have some energy in the playing.
They started with What You Wanted, admittedly it sounds much better live than on record but it all just again felt a bit defunct, before playing unreleased Friday Night, a weakling amidst a sea of decent Spector songs that begins all well and good but descends into a chorus of almost screaming that just makes your ears want to close up- whatever it was, i wasn’t getting it. They redeemed themselves quickly with Grey Shirt & Tie, a standout of the set, with mellow synths and haunting vocals that reflect the lyrics meanfullingly (at this point i cannot think of a word to this effect that exists so that will have to do).
After this came more of the stage banter Fred Macpherson seems to excel at before thundering into again unreleased, and this time much better, Twenty Nothing hinting that the forthcoming album -details this week- could contain some very good stuff. Swiftly followed by latest single Celestine, an absolute crowd pleaser of a song & genuinely indierock-synthpop goodness you can listen to over and over and never tire of and yet more unreleased & very good Lay Low, with the ominous synth & crooning of Grey Shirt & Tie.
Penultimately came Chevy Thunder, another thunderous single with Vaccines-esque guitars & whirling synths before set closer Never Fade Away, complete with curious handclaps & an inauspicious sound that rounded off the set suitably well.
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