Straight out of Dalston, East London, a place that hosts several art and entertainment venues, and has a history as an entertainment centre, come Tough Cookie. Tonight though this quartet is a threesome as their guitarist Jess Ayres is AWOL. `Mercy!` has a kind of dreamy quality before `Sandcastles 2008`which is about watching someone repeat the same mistakes follows which comes from the band`s `The Countryside Is Good For You` vinyl mixtape released last October and has a kind of slacker come grungy feel.
We have another cut from the mixtape with `Disappear`, which is another song with a faraway texture before we enjoy `Let Me Die (Curled In Your Arms)` from the bands forthcoming EP out on 23rd October which was pretty deep and absorbing. The penultimate number `Happiness` is about a deeply personal experience of addiction and the pursuit of happiness and how they are woven together before the trio leave us with a final number off their mixtape in `Emory` which relates to falling for someone much too quickly while simultaneously feeling overwhelmed by doubt about the relationship. An illusory number which has a fairly anthemic vibe. Tonight`s trio of August Tse (vocals/guitar), Daniel Hvorostovsky (bass), and Gavin Sullivan (drums) shared an enjoyable half hour plus of numbers that were at times tender and at times more incensed.
A band I’ll definitely try and catch when they return as a four piece.
Fletchr Fletchr arrive in the second city towards the end of their `From Home` tour. This Cornwall based quartet have supported Imagine Dragons at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, performed at Isle of Wight Festival and Metronome in Prague and arrive back at the same venue where they thrilled an ecstatic audience last November. I`m sure it was Kings Of Leon`s `Notion` that was pumped through the pa as Rohan Fletcher, Adam Sanders, George Green and drummer Oli Williams head through this packed crowd and straight into `For You` from their EP ` On The Island We Call Home` released last month. The passionate Jet Black races along. We have a change in pace as the band share `Feel the Same` from their debut EP` We All Feel the Same` with its haunting saxophone towards the end which flowed into ‘Passenger’ which is about the state of the UK right now. There`s further introspection with `Blink of an Eye` before the guys play a new number `Debbie` with a kind of spoken word intro, a song that I have to say reminded me of The Kings of Leon `Use Somebody` which in my opinion is no bad thing.
The dreamy `From Home` rings out before `Karma` which was the first song Rohan and Adam wrote in their bedroom gets an airing. The pounding rhythmic `Streetlights` opens quite tenderly, a number about falling in love and feeling like everything was aligned for you, then dealing with keeping that initial connection as alight as possible through the ups and downs of a relationship.The strangely titled `Dancing on the Motorway` is a pulsing offering whereas the anxiety ridden ‘Fucking With My Head’ allows us a certain amount of contemplation. Rohan feels we need a happy song after all this soul-searching and offers up the energetic `One For The Record` which has this packed audience clapping and joining in with the ” oohhh oohhh oohh” chorus lines.
The most touching song of the night was `Life` which was written for Rohan`s dad Matthew Fletcher who passed away three years ago and was a massive champion of the band. It`s a tough listen and rings home as no matter how long your dad is gone, it always feels too soon. My dad passed twenty years ago and I still think of him most days. The song finishes with a lingering saxophone hue.
The fellas leave us with the meditative `Whenever, Whenever` as we all come to terms with the fairly intensive hour we`ve just spent in this bands company. Tonight was a really well structured set built around themes of loss, love, anxiety, and longing. If I’m honest I’ve given up predicting the future for bands as the ones I feel have something seem to fade away and others that don`t really inspire me seem to end up filling out stadiums. There`s definitely something about Fletchr Fletchr and I’d encourage you to see them while they`re still playing venues where you can see the whites of their eyes.
