My first live review of a, thus far, slack 2010 and I’m inappropriately hungover. Week-early birthday celebrations having taken their toll, an evening of music is probably somewhere beneath an early night on the list of ailments.
Thankfully then that the band in question tonight is going to go gentle on my aging person and not make me cower in the corner holding my head together with decibel overload.
Beach House have been stirring up all manners of acclaim with new album ‘Teen Drama’, and suitably this gig sold out a week in advance.
It’s a bitter cold Thursday and the journey requires a walk through darkest Salford. I’d missed out on too many recent gigs at Islington Mill, but tonight sure as hell wasn’t going to follow suit.
For those like myself prior to tonight who haven’t visited the venue before, it’s a former cotton spinning mill that has been spared the fate of being destroyed in favour of apartment blocks. Instead it has been turned into art studios, club and live music space and a recording studio. And being just outside of the city centre, it’s a welcome alternative independent venue.
The room is already full upon entering, and sole support Lawrence Arabia are partway through their set. The outfit of New Zealand musician James Milne, he and his band play a stop-start brand of garage-pop. Bright and cheery-seeming numbers, sometimes with eerie undertones; our attention wavers in the sizable gaps between most songs. Likable but not as attention-grabbing as perhaps it should be. Future listening will prove whether we missed out on anything, but a warming if unfamiliar support nevertheless.
Since their debut full-length in 2006, Beach House have been championed by the likes of Pitchfork, and have enjoyed steadily-rising underground success since. Tonight’s set therefore is for as much for those fans there from the start, as it is for the newbies.
The stage has been littered with fibre-optic trees. Christmas may have gone some time ago, but this synthetic woodland bypasses festive cheer in favour of ambrosial warmth. They even change colour under the lights – how quaint!
If you’re familiar with BH, then you’ll have the same automatic connotations every time you hear them. Dreamy, expansive, even operatic; it’s all too easy to get wooed by Victoria LeGrand’s breezing vocals. Especially with her heavy-breathing on ‘Norway’.
The slow build-up to ‘Zebra’ commences and the crowd sway without thought. If anyone in attendance was thinking whether or not they were to get a takeaway on the way home, they must have been in the loos when the hypnotism started. As easy as the song allows you to drift away into lightheadedness, thoughts of anything other than what it would be like to be able to fly are implausible. “Look Ma, we’re floating!”
In fact, most of ‘Teen Drama’ gets played tonight. Their debut release on Sub Pop, ‘10 Mile Stereo’, ‘Take Care’ and ‘Silver Soul’ are proof if any were needed that the iconic Seattle label are still on form after all these years.
2008 single ‘Gila’ evokes a good response as the first keys are tickled, and as the set winds down to a close, everyone goes away happy. Stalwart fans pleased with the set and another chance to be swept off their feet by music; the newcomers still in awe of just how good they were.
Me, I’m somewhere in between. The hangover draining all that’s left of my energy, I feel like LeGrand has been singing personal lullabies to me all night and I am now suitably soothed for a long sleep. Even in the worst of states, there’s not much better to listen to than these still-rising Baltimore stars.
LINKS :
Beach House - http://www.myspace.com/beachhousemusic
Beach House are on tour with Grizzly Bear next month. Sadly, the tour doesn’t hit Manchester, but we’re sure we’ll see them again before the end of the year.
Lawrence Arabia - http://www.myspace.com/lawrencearabia
Lawrence Arabia are back here on March 8th, supporting Cafe Le Bon at the Deaf Institute.
Islington Mill - http://www.islingtonmill.com/
Now Wave - http://www.myspace.com/nowwave
Pineapple Folk – http://www.myspace.com/pineapplefolkmusic
Daniel Alston
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Freelance journalist & designer.
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