Review - Esben And The Witch

It’s Tuesday night and we find ourselves in familiar territory upstairs in the main room at the Hare and Hounds, awaiting another eclectic evening of live music hosted by Birmingham Promoters.

Kicking off proceedings are local 5 piece Silver Souvenirs with their pick and mix style and good times ethic. Combining chugging guitars, math rock rhythms and even Balearic synths, they do a great job of working the crowd, making plain their mantra “to make people dance”. Knives, is the sound of Delphic and the Klaxons meeting halfway between Atlantis and Interzone, whilst Youth is more Dancing than Killing in the Name of. Despite a few sound issues they manage to keep the crowd enthused and will surely garner continual praise and recognition for their energetic performances.

Next up, is Trophy Wife, members of Oxford’s Blessing Force collective – a group of musical souls forged during the creative process of Foals’ Total Life Forever album. Opener Take This Night has a Kid Creole Latino intro overlaid with Hot Chip, Over and Over style chimes. Hot Chip is a good starting point for the band both musically and in their dynamic on stage. Just as Alexis Taylor’s vocals add fragility in an otherwise electronic environment, so too Jody Prewett’s voice adds languor to their “ambitionless office disco”. Microlite, their debut single seems to melt away revealing a sense of humanism akin to that on One Life Stand. The Quiet Earth, imagines New Order and sees an enthusiastic turn by the drummer beating down on the drum pads for dear life! This is definitely a band that you would like to be seen out with.

From the downright human to a glimpse of the supernatural, Brighton’s Esben and the Witch begin their performance with what could best be described as an incantation. As Rachel Davies wails at the back of the stage, Ring like, her face hidden by long black hair, guitarist Daniel Copeman’s spasmodic movements appear as reactions to her ever intensifying dirge. She approaches the front of the stage and starts to frenziedly bang away at a cymbal whilst the drone of the guitar summons up the spirits from beyond. Then from out of the maelstrom comes a plaintive voice that captures the soul. As opening tracks go, Argyria is a very powerful one encompassing all the elements that make up EATW’s style. As Beth Gibbons’ vocal on Portishead’s Dummy guided you into the heart of the music whilst retaining an existence all of its own, so too with Rachel Davies’ voice. She could be described as Florence’s Wyrd Sister, choosing to live on the darker fringes of the human psyche. Warpath sees her at her most Siouxie like backed by cavernous Glasvegas style guitars. Climaxing with Lucia at the Precipice, the crowd is literally left teeth-chattering, as the thunderous bass vibrates through the floor like an electric shock

Not just music but more a sense of theatre, a well-worked performance set to a backdrop of unnerving guitars, punctuated by ominous pounding drums with a Gothic heart and a voice that can dance on the wind and summon forth the dead.

Words by Andrew Gutteridge on: http://www.audioscribbler.co.uk