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January 23, 2016January 23, 2016

BREVIEW: Daughter @ O2 Institute 20.01.16

Words by Ed King / Pics by Harry Mills

Due to cabin fever and relative poverty I’m walking to the gig tonight. I’m cold but complicit; Daughter are playing at the O2 Institute, alongside their 4AD label mate Pixx, and it’s a gig I’ve been scratching to see.

For the past fortnight I’ve had Daughter’s sophomore album, Not to Disappear, running through my head. It’s a bit of a monster, a ten track avalanche with videos that would break bigger men than me. And now, after hearing it virtually non-stop for two weeks, I need flesh (to read Ed King’s Birmingham Review of Not to Disappear, click here).

I need time too. I’m late. I’m not going to see Pixx. And as I walk through the park the late frost turns the concrete silver and dangerous, blades of grass so brittle I’m not sure they’ll make it.

The lake is frozen too; the only warm light comes from the capoeira and spoken word workshops at the local arts centre, heads bobbing with unwatched enthusiasm. I feel numb in this kingdom; I swig the miniature bottle of Famous Grouse left over from Christmas, apparently this is ‘not drinking tonight’, and try to both speed up and not fall over (thankfully some photographers keep better time; to see Harry Mills’ full Flickr of Pixx, click here).

I stammer through the back streets of Digbeth and eventually spot the O2 Institute’s main entrance, a trickle of bodies coming in and out of the archway. I’ve definitely missed Pixx, this is half time in action, so I quickly ask the relevant questions to the relevant faces and make my way to the main arena, being stewarded according. Tonight is not just full, it’s busy; allocated seating, you’re an ‘S’ or a ‘B’. There are a lot of groups, conversation and action, and as I stand in the thoroughfare from one bar to the other, with my back rigid against the back wall, a small crowd gathers in front of me and starts to circle, dance and shriek. I am irritated by children in men. There will soon be no room at all.

The stage is set simply, from what I can see over heads and in between shoulders – two mics and a raised drum kit, with gold four spots shining out into the crowd and purple par cans illuminating the dry ice and backdrop. It’s a big room, the O2 Institute’s main hall, with a high ceiling, and without elaborate lighting the stage can look a little sparse (in previous incarnations there was an old church organ that used to sit along the rear of the stage). If Not to Disappear was indeed written with bigger venues in mind, I’m not sure how tonight is going to pan out.

But I’ll find out soon enough, as the limited lights come down to a BIG CHEER from the “sold out” auditorium (as I would be later informed by a gregarious member of the bar staff). The lights come back up with another BIG CHEER, shining down on Elena Tonra and Igor Haefeli at the forefront of the stage – decorated in black and red, standing either side of Remi Aguilella’s elevated throne. There is subtle hush, not silence, as Torna slides across the bass line and introduction to ‘How’ – a significant album track from Not to Disappear. And by my count, the room has about twelve seconds…

BAM. White light and searing guitar pierces through the air above the crowd; like a surprise or collision, we stand dumbstruck. ‘How’ is a fierce song on Daughter’s new album, one that helped set the pace for me when I first heard the LP, but live… this is a bona fide rock band on stage.

Four and a half minutes later we are released, briefly, before the sonorous whirling and plucked guitar of ‘Tomorrow’ brings album No1 onto the stage. I’ll admit here, I fu*king love Daughter’s debut (apart from ‘Human’, which, just, didn’t, you know) which makes watching it live a precarious job. I am precious and critic, a terrible duality. But it’s perfect, and I mean perfect. A word I never, ever use.

But so far I can’t fault either the old or the new. Haefeli’s guitar is richer yet absolute in the real world, Aguilella’s pounding percussion marches, rises and falls with Buddy Rich fervour, and Torna’s vocals… I can’t believe this is the same woman I watched stare at the ground whilst singing ‘Peter’.

“..thank you. Thank you. It’s our fifth date and… it’s great to see you out.” Torna’s absurdly soft on stage speaking voice, considering, squeaks out a well received recognition, before the echoed drums and wistful strings of ‘Numbers’ leads into the song’s rolling thunderclaps and exceptional lyrics. This is another sterling album track on Not to Disappear, but, again, live… Christ. “You better, you better, you better, you better make me. Me better, me better. You better make me better.”

The odd swing/miss of the evening comes up next, as an unapologetic techno drum beats out the pace for ‘No Care’ – another new born offering, and the benchmark (to me) of any Daughter to come.

It is a superb song, but live, tonight, there’s something missing. Powerful, yes, but as effective as it has been through my earphones for the past fortnight, no. And I really wanted this to be ‘the moment’. After the bell rings, the audience are silent for a second longer than they should be.

The set rolls across old to new, with most of my drunk spider notes saying ‘better live’ and ‘ET’s vocals’, before I am schooled again by a staggering live delivery of ‘Human’. As I mentioned, not my favourite on If You Leave, and a track I’ll shamefacedly admit I sometimes skip when it comes on. But to repeat myself, watching it live…

Whatever you think they are, whatever place they held in your head, whatever weaknesses and strengths you think Daughter have to celebrate or challenge, they are a rock band. A solid, tight, punchy and powerful rock band. I stand here watching a track I don’t like and I get it, now I get it. You just have to see this on stage. And absorb as much of it as you can.

Torna is a beautiful lyricist and songwriter, one with heartbreaking insight; she means something, and delivers her words with such precision and poignancy that they’re impossible to avoid. Igor Haefeli has taken that thread and made a unique blanket that no other band, not even on their own labels’ roster (which is the perfect place for Daughter) can compare to – it is his blood on their hands here, and it stains something quite incredible both on the recordings and off. Then, like some hybrid of Greek mythology, Animal, and Seattle grunge, you have Remi Aguilella – who, quite rightly so, finishes Daughter’s main set tonight with a spotlight and drum solo.

After a glorious 16 song set, the gig ends a single ‘Made of Stone’ encore – a perhaps unplanned denouement that would have been the biggest relief to the venue’s security. I flit around the lovesick hall, trying to verify the “NAME OF TRACK NO5??’ (incorrectly, it was track No10 I was after) as the entire crowd jams itself into, and out of, the main exit. I’m sober, with the cheap rye having worn off a while ago, and prepare myself for the hour long return journey. ‘Home’.

All the way back I listen to both Daughter’s albums on Shuffle, appreciating aspects from both the debut and sophomore that I’d either missed or ignored. And I’m not to know it tonight but this resurgence will last for a while, it will even increase – the happy hangover of the O2 Institute gig keeping me close to this impressive twenty track plus portfolio. Thank you for that.

As I cross through the park in reverse order, Canadian geese are standing in the centre of the frozen lake – churlish, isolated and defiant. I watch them for a while, blowing the smoke from my ‘walk-home-joint’ across the sandpaper air and into the fluorescent lights surrounding the arts centre walls. It’s an oddly pointless endevour in below freezing temperatures, but I’m curious and distracted, a little lost, setting fire to our insides for fun.

And as I eventually reach my front door, in eerily film soundtrack timing, I realise I’ve not listened to the track on If You Leave that I would usually have started to walk with. In fact, most of my attention is on Not to Disappear. I didn’t skip ‘Human’ either.

Not to Disappear is out now, released by 4AD. For more on Daughter, including online purchase points, visit http://www.4ad.com/artists/daughter

Visit the official Daughter website at http://ohdaughter.com/

For more on Pixx, visit http://www.4ad.com/artists/110

For more from 4AD, visit http://www.4ad.com/

For more on Kilimanjaro Live, visit http://www.kilimanjarolive.co.uk/

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listings & online tickets sales, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/

January 21, 2016January 21, 2016

BPREVIEW: Victories at Sea @ Hare & Hounds 21.01.16

Words by Ed King / Artwork by Lewes Herriot – courtesy of This is Tmrw

On Thursday 21^st January, Victories at Sea play their first show of 2016 at the Hare & Hounds – with support from Horsebeach + Flamingo Flame.

Doors open at 8pm, with tickets charged at £7+booking fee – as promoted by This is Tmrw. For direct gig info & online ticket sales, click here

Having signed to Static Caravan in early 2013, Victories at Sea released their debut LP – Everything Forever, in October 2015. A rather exquisite blend of mournful pop, Indie guitar and that tempered electro/rock that so few get right, Victories at Sea will hopefully be enjoying some well deserved momentum from their debut. If not, there’s probably a few online avenues to start making amends; when you look at the alternative layers of mainstream mediocrity, I guess we only have ourselves to blame (the record buying public, not Birmingham Review. Although this is the first time we’ve featured them. So a little from Column A…).

But hyperbole, market trends and guilt aside, Static Caravan have probably the best pitch for this well worth while release. To find out more about Everything Forever direct from the label, or even get ya’ mitts on a copy (‘…if you even slightly fancy one’), click here

And if you need to nudge further senses, spending a cup of tea or two shifting through the Victories at Sea Youtube channel would not be a bad way to start. There’s some well thought out and executed videos to accompany many of the album tracks, with bright colours in low light, metal, steel and tales of urban decay to help bring out the flavour. Works too.

But to cherry pick one we’ve gone for ‘Up’. Have a stop, look, listen below:

‘Up’ by Victories at Sea

Victories at Sea play at the Hare & Hounds on Thursday 21^st January, with support from Horsebeach + Flamingo Flame. For direct gig info, visit http://hareandhoundskingsheath.skiddletickets.com/event.php?id=12594886

For more on Victories at Sea, visit https://soundcloud.com/victoriesatsea

For more from Static Caravan, visit http://www.staticcaravan.org

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For more from This is Tmrw, visit http://thisistmrw.co.uk/

For more from the Hare & Hounds, including full event listings & online tickets sales, visit http://hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk/

January 19, 2016

BPREVIEW: Daughter @ O2 Institute 20.01.16

Words by Ed King / Pic by Francesca Jane Allen – courtesy of 4AD

On Wednesday 20^th January, Daughter perform at the O2 Institute in Birmingham – with support from 4AD label mate, Pixx.

Doors open at 7pm, with tickets charged at £17.50 – as promoted by Kilimanjaro Live. For direct gig & online ticket sales, click here

Comprised of Elena Tonra (vocals/guitar), Igor Haefeli (guitar) and Remi Aguilella (percussion), Daughter are back in Birmingham for the fifth date on their 12 date UK tour – before 10 dates in mainland Europe and an extensive North American circuit.

Daughter are touring their second studio album, Not to Disappear, which was released through 4AD on Thursday 15^th January. The eagerly awaited sophomore (by us, at least) is the follow up to Daughter’s widely celebrated (by us…) debut LP, If You Leave – which introduced the London based three piece back in March 2013.

To read a Birmingham Review of Daughter’s new album, Not to Disappear, click here

Recorded at Nicholas Vernhes’s Rare Book Room Studios in Brooklyn, Not to Disappear was a collaborative production between the French born/New York based producer and Daughter’s own guitarist, Igor Haefeli.

Alongside 4AD, Nicholas Vernhes has worked with labels including Kitsuné, One Little Indian and Bella Union; he has produced albums for Speedy Ortiz, The War on Drugs and Animal Collective. On their debut LP, Haefeli worked with Rodaidh McDonald – the Scottish engineer/producer known for his work with The XX and Savages.

On the supporting press release for Not to Disappear, issued by 4AD, Elena Tonra says: “Nicolas (Vernhes) was wonderful. We’d been living in London, and demoing and writing here – we’re perfectionists, pulling in different directions – so it was really beneficial to go somewhere else to record it, just for a change of scene. Working with Nicolas was a real injection of energy.”

“I’m a control freak, so it’s hard to let go,” adds Haefeli, “but I found a lot in common with him, as much in our positive sides as in our faults. He brought a quality of recording that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. And he’s just a fun person to be around.” Sounds like Christmas.

But all the ingredients of proof are eventually tasted, with the first two helpings from Not to Disappear served with rich and dark video productions. Released in September 2015, ‘Doing the Right Thing’ unfolds a heartbreaking narrative about the love and loss behind dementia. Whilst ‘Numbers’, released in November 2015, literally walks us through the isolated human endevour.

Or it’s a subtle warning to Chris de Burgh… have a stop, look, listen below:

‘Numbers’ by Daughter

Daughter playing at the O2 Institute on Wednesday 20^th January – with support from Pixx. For direct gig info, visit http://go.shr.lc/1n3i1xI

Not to Disappear is released via 4AD from Friday 15^th January. For more on Daughter, including online purchase points, visit http://www.4ad.com/artists/daughter

Visit the official Daughter website at http://ohdaughter.com/

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For more from 4AD, visit http://www.4ad.com/

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listings & online tickets sales, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/

January 15, 2016January 15, 2016

RELEASE: Not to Disappear – Daughter

Words by Ed King / Pics courtesy of 4AD – ‘The World is Spinning Around’ (album artwork) by Sarah Shaw, lead photograph by Francesca Jane Allen

I love my iPhone. Its ‘old’ enough to create nostalgia, pity and scorn, but has been appreciated company on many long journeys. Even though the buttons don’t fully work, I can’t access the Internet anymore and I receive calls on separate handset, I still love my iPhone.

Plus it has all my walking around music on it, so it generally never leaves my side. And as I gleefully upload Daughter’s new album, Not to Disappear, I am itching to stick my earphones back in and take that cabin fever walk-round-the-park that every self employed person relies upon to stay sane.

It’s been three years since Daughter’s debut album was released, the superb If I Leave, creating a triptych soundtrack (along with Lucy Rose and Benjamin Francis Leftwich) that simply owned my life for a while. I am Christmas Day childish about sinking my teeth into their sophomore. And as I march through the opening track, ‘New Ways’, I am immediately on identifiable ground; soft echoes, mournful guitar, and Elena Tonra’s lone cry – firm, distant and lost. Ah, to be home…

Then as ‘Numbers’ rolls in, track No#2, I start to pick out the counterpoints. There is noticeable volume on this album already (think dimensions not sound) with the familiar motifs surrounded by a fallout cloud that only flirted through If I Leave. And honestly, I’m not initially sure. It feels heavy and distracting, but I can imagine its weight effectively crossing the rooms of a more capacious tour circuit.

‘Doing the Right Thing’ gives a gentle hat tip to track three from its predecessor, but doesn’t quite compete. After all, what could. Before a subtle tease into the waves of distorted metal brings the most ball grabbing moment of this album yet; take a pinch of Pixies, a dash of Mogwai, mix it in the same bowl you blended the Drive soundtrack together in, and you have ‘How’ – a formidable introduction to Daughter Round 2.

The rest of Not to Disappear continues its hopscotch between producers past/present and walls/whispers of sound, with the front seat reserved for Torna’s noticeably visceral lyrics – exploring pertinent human stories, from the loss of dementia to sexual isolation.

This is a clear evolution with Not to Disappear, as a seemingly more unguarded pen captures some exquisitely dark explosions; “…how I wanted you to promise we would only make love, but my mouth felt like I was choking on broken glass, so I just slept it off…” In fact the whole of that song; pick a line. And I dare you to watch the video for the album’s lead single, ‘Doing the Right Thing’, without something in your eye.

Overall, there is a little bleeding of one track into another – with the weight behind some of Not to Disappear’s more deserving punches being felt more when landed on their own. There is no ‘Youth’ on this album. But where the prodigal Daughter album arguably waned, in its faster paces such as ‘Human’, Not to Disappear not only excels but sets a formidable precedent for anything left in this band’s arsenal.

‘No Care’ (track No#7 and the home of the cited lyric above) is the finest moment in Daughter’s two album portfolio, in my overplayed opinion. And I say that with equal judgment and love.

But let’s face it; if you’ve heard If I Leave (and you’ve read this review up to here) then you’re going to hear its follow up, regardless. Three years is a long enough time to wait. And despite their claustrophobic and safe starting points, some moments of change can make everything just a little better.

Then by some wonderful combination of serendipity and a manufacturer’s warranty, after a couple of circuits my iPhone gets stuck on ‘All Songs’ – amalgamating both Daughter albums into one sonorous sandwich. So whilst there’s still a break in the clouds I might as well walk round the park once more. I work hard enough; I’ll go back after this track, or maybe the next. Perhaps in half an hour. After all this is research…

I really could get an upgrade, something all singing-all-dancing-bright-shiny-and-new, something that would make the world around me happier; but everything has its time and place. And I still love my iPhone.

‘Doing the Right Thing’ – Daughter

Not to Disappear is released via 4AD from Friday 15^th January. For more on Daughter, including online purchase points, visit http://www.4ad.com/artists/daughter

Daughter playing at the O2 Institute on Wednesday 20^th January – with support from Pixx. For direct gig info, visit http://go.shr.lc/1n3i1xI

Visit the official Daughter website at http://ohdaughter.com/

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For more from 4AD, visit http://www.4ad.com/

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listings & online tickets sales, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/

December 28, 2015December 30, 2015

BREVIEW: Maxïmo Park @ O2 Institute 18.12.15

Words by Helen Knott / Pics by Ed Taylor (Digital Flow)

The first time I saw Maxïmo Park live was in 2005, in the small upstairs room of a Sheffield pub. There were about 15 of us in the crowd. Through the course of that gig I think that we all realised this band couldn’t fail to make it.

The songs were too good and lead singer Paul Smith too beguiling – a lassic indie poet cast from the same mold as Sheffield’s own Jarvis Cocker. Ten years and five albums later, Maxïmo Park are touring to mark the 10^th anniversary of their debut album, A Certain Trigger – playing the O2 Institute‘s 1500 capacity main room.

And outside the numbers not too much has changed since Sheffield in 2005; Smith is still the same edgy, intense Romantic, spitting out lyrics in his unmistakable Geordie accent. It’s just now he has amplified his persona for a much bigger stage. The awkward bookishness of the early days is gone, replaced with the posturing and leaping of a rock star.

The first half of tonight’s Institute show is a selection of singles and rarities from throughout the band’s career. Singles such as ‘Our Velocity’ and ‘Girls Who Play Guitar’ have an excitable, beered up, Friday night crowd enthusiastically singing along.

And if it’s a little laddish, this is a particularly neurotic brand of modern laddishness: “If everyone became so sensitive / Perhaps I wouldn’t be so sensitive”. Besides, there’s something quite delightful about a roomful of people yelling along to lines like, “I am young and I am lost / You react to my riposte”. ‘Wonderwall’ this isn’t.

After a short break, Maxïmo Park return for a track-by-track performance of A Certain Trigger. The album stands the test of time pretty well, a fine example of mid-00’s indie pop to file alongside Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs and Arctic Monkeys.

I have mixed feelings about the merits of playing the record in its entirety, however. Unlike Pink Floyd performing Dark Side of the Moon or Radiohead doing OK Computer, there’s not much to be gained from hearing this type of album – which is basically a collection of singles with some filler album tracks – from start to finish.

Still, playing the album in full does showcase some of its hidden gems; songs normally overlooked in favour of hits ‘Going Missing, Apply Some Pressure’ and ‘The Coast is Always Changing’. A case in point is ‘I Want you to Stay’, the record’s melancholic fifth single. It begins as a restrained love song, with twitching guitars developing in counterpoint to the wistful vocals (“Nothing works around here/ Where cranes collect the sky”), building in complexity and urgency before reaching its chaotic conclusion. It sums up the best of Maxïmo Park: while their songs tend to be familiar tales of love and loss, Smith’s diction and delivery is always idiosyncratic enough to avoid cliché.

As much as I was impressed by Maxïmo Park’s songs and charisma that night in Sheffield ten years ago, my overriding memory is of the band’s warmth – they were delighted that we had turned up to see them play.

Now there are 1,500 rather than 15 people in the crowd, but Maxïmo Park still have that ability to make each audience member feel valued, special and part of something exciting.

It’s a great feeling, for this reporter at least. And it’s one of the many reasons I believe Maxïmo Park continue to be so cherished by their fans over a decade after their debut – be in a small room in Sheffield or a big room in Birmingham.

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For more on Maxïmo Park, http://maximopark.com/

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listings & online ticket sales, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/

For more from Gigs & Tours, visit http://www.gigsandtours.com/