Leeds based collective HONESTY have been tipped by none other than the Guardian as ones to watch. They are not a band in the traditional sense, with four core members George Mitchell, Matt Peel, Josh Lewis and Imi Marston and a rotating cast of collaborators which have included musicians and visual artists like Kosi Tides, Softlizard, Rarelyalways, Florence Shaw, and Liam Bailey. Their debut album `U R Here` was released last month and they arrive in Birmingham this evening and share around thirty minutes of an ethereal and at times pulsating electronic auditory and visual presentation. There`s a mixture of songs from the latest release such as `Tormenter` which has a recurring almost hypnotic beat, the illusory `Nightworld` , Measure Me` and mesmerising `WWWWW?` all shared with clever visuals along with lyrics superimposed on screens that allow fleeting glimpses on the band members almost hidden behind. But for me the highlights were `North` and `Sorta Fine` which had Kosi Tides rapping the lyrics over the at times subliminal sound. Nigel, a friend from Coventry suggested they had a touch of electro industrial innovators Cabaret Voltaire about them and I’d have to agree. An interesting and fairly absorbing show and a really complementary support band to open the night with.
Hull quartet bdrmm who comprise of Ryan Smith, Joe Vickers, Jordan Smith, and Connor Murray also released a new album last month, their third with `Microtonic` and around half the set tonight is comprised of this compelling listen. The atmospheric instrumental title track `Microtonic` leads us in but it`s the shimmeringly hypnotic `Clarkycat` which follows that is the track I really wanted to hear tonight. There`s some technical issues but they are quickly sorted and it seems like a piece of the stage equipment wasn`t correctly plugged in!!!
Its back in time to the debut album `Bedroom` for the ghostly `Push/Pull` before the slightly unerring `John On The Ceiling` is shared, a song written about performance poet John Cooper Clarke dancing on the ceiling according to the band, of which I was unaware. `Lake Disappointment` has a subdued drum and bass like sensibility while `Be Careful` from the second album ` I Don`t know` has a real wistfulness about it. There`s an almost drum cadence initially with `Infidelity Parking` before it becomes delightfully trippy and tranquil. A cyclic beat underpins `Snares` which at times is spoken word and veers off into a sung vocalised tone as the number evolves. It`s fairly illusory musically but grows volubly in the last minute or so.
There isn`t an encore as such but a kind of brief break, while remaining on stage before the last few numbers lead us out. I`m sure it was `Happy` and `Un(Happy)` with sparkling and angular guitar riffs that drew us in before ending this ninety-minute set with `Port` with its fairly lengthy instrumental introduction as tenderly sung vocals float atop and around. Ryan Smith and the band seemed fairly surprised and genuinely touched as to the number of audience members who packed out this venue tonight.
The quartet have broadened their sound with a more electronic focus on the latest album which at time veers and deviates from My Bloody Valentine to almost Portishead. After having decided to move away from shoegaze to include synths in their expansive sound, i`m really curious as to what`s to come next and sure it`ll be both fascinating and intriguing. It was an endearing and engaging mix of styles tonight with at times sounding like a wall of controlled noise along with introspective jams and more mediative passages.
There were shades of bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Mogwai, Slowdive and Spiritualized tonight but the band seem to have developed their own musical echo, tone and character and it`ll be intriguing to witness how this evolves and develops.
Photos Nigel Latham
