Words by Ed King / Pics courtesy of Indie Midlands
On Sunday 14th July, GHUM play at The Sunflower Lounge – with support from Aufbau Principle, P.E.T and Pretty Vile.
Doors open at 7:30pm, with tickets priced at £6 (+bf) – as presented by Indie Midlands. For direct gig info, including venue details and links to online ticket sales, click here.
Out on the road with their new EP, The Coldest Fire, GHUM are stopping off for a Sunday night soirée in Birmingham – playing their second gig in the second city, before up to Manchester and beyond on an eight date UK tour.
Released though the London based Everything Sucks Music on 28th June – home to Dream Nails, Wolf Girl and Birmingham’s erstwhile Okinawa Picture Show (last seen…?) – The Coldest Fire is a thicker broth than its 2017 predecessor.
Opening with ‘Saturn’, an immediate foundation of frenetic drums and bass (from Vicki Butler and Marina MJ respectively) gives way to Jojo Khor’s piercing guitar lead and Laura Guerrero Lora’s subtle, brooding vocals. Relentless and bold, citing the EP’s title in the second verse, this opening track is a solid introduction to the whole release – which celebrates all the wonderful and dark corners of GHUM’s self-described ‘ghost grunge’.
Produced by Adam Jaffrey, who has worked with acts from Beach Baby to Ekkah to Lucy Rose, the EP’s second half does loosen its grip a bit – with a softer threat to the first two tracks otherwise clear cut knife to the cheek. But don’t be fooled, whilst ‘1000 Men’ and ‘In My Head’ might be a little epinephrine deficient they can still stand up and fight.
Perhaps, however, The Coldest Fire’s brightest moment is in its second track and lead single, ‘Get Up’, with just over four minutes of low menace and rising panic that throw us around the sonic spectrum with frightening control. As a child of the 90’s, who grew up on the foreboding prophecies of early Sup Pop and Swervedriver, this sends me back to the frivolities of my twisted metal youth.
Like an audio ghost train crashing through the walls of a mescaline hall of mirrors; cracking stuff. And God loves a metaphor… at least, that’s what you get in the absence of any Darjeeling railway anecdotes. Out now; enjoy.
‘Get Up’ – GHUM
GHUM play at The Sunflower Lounge on Sunday 14th July, with support from Aufbau Principle, P.E.T and Pretty Vile – as presented by Indie Midlands. For direct gig info and links to online ticket sales, click here to visit the Facebook event page.
For more on GHUM, visit www.ghum.bandcamp.com
For more Aufbau Principle, visit www.aufbauprinciple.bandcamp.com
For more P.E.T, visit www.facebook.com/petbanduk
For more on Pretty Vile, visit www.soundcloud.com/prettyvile
For more from Indie Midlands, including further event listings and stories from the region’s indie and alternative music scene, visit www.indiemidlands.com
For more on The Sunflower Lounge, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com
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