Fast Money Music is the solo project of Nick Hinman an American-born and East London-based musician and producer. Fast Money Music have released two EPs so far. The first, ‘Strange Moments’ and the second, titled ‘Rouge,’ with an album planned for the new year. Live they are a quintet and are special guests to Tempesst on a brief soiree around the UK which arrived in Birmingham on day two.
The show opens with `Hot Melt Glue`, a real marker to open on with its rumbling bass and saxophone hues. `Strange Moments` is fairly bass driven with yelps from singer Nick and for me had an angular Gang of Four vibe. There`s a more reflective feel to the oscillating `Probably Finally` before the band share `Hunky Dory` which veers towards Franz Ferdinand rather than the Thin White Duke which the title would suggest.
`Space Opera` is fairly celestial and cosmic before this thirty five minute set closed out with the fairly strangely hypnotic `Polar Bear` dedicated to a record shop of the same name on the same street as the venue, which the band had noticed earlier in the day. This was a really energetic and pulsating performance with jagged guitars and wailing saxophone.
A band that`ll be a definite must see the next time they play our second city.
Tempesst is an Australian British indie electronic rock band formed in Noosa, Australia, by twin brothers Toma and Andy Banjanin. The band is now based in London and has released three studio albums and are known for their psych-rock sound, which incorporates jangle pop and influences from 90s alternative rock.
The group open with `Reach You` a delightfully tender offering from their latest album `Forbidden Fruit` before heading into the faster paced `Anonymous in New York` from the same release. We enjoy a couple of early tracks with the dreamy `Darkness (Into The Light)` and the absorbing `Some People Never Change`. The expansive `Sunset at Maria`s (Part I) bleeds into `Sunset at Maria`s (Part II) and is as mesmerising as on record.
Singer Toma admits that `I Want More` is his favourite song from the latest album as he shares this sprawling and emotive listen. There`s a real intensity to `Stranger To You Now` while `Sad Eyes` is illusory. The final stretch includes `Prisoner of Desire` which has an almost Americana texture, the ruminative `Mushroom Cloud` before closing with `Waste It With You` which is a number that has a timbre that is so familiar that it sounds as if you`ve heard it years before. The band seem reluctant to depart and are encouraged to share a final number which they do with the passionate `Voices In My Head` before they take their leave.
Tempesst have a real soulful potency and shared an hours’ worth of material that is not only lyrically thought provoking and enthralling but was quite spellbinding at times. They should be gracing larger venues on the strength of what I observed tonight.
