Regular readers of Sonic Breakfast will know that, on those days when I work in London, I’ll choose to take in a gig in that fine city rather than getting a train straight home. It means that I don’t get home until the early hours but, invariably, being tired at work the next day is a price that I’m willing to pay.
So, last Thursday I was down in London. I got the chance to go and see a stellar trio of bands as part of the Five Day Forecast mini festival, a week of shows put on by The Line Of Best Fit at the Lexington. TLOBF gaze into their crystal balls and predict what’ll be grabbing our attention in 2016.
I signed up mostly because I was intrigued by the headline act, Diet Cig. This was part of the New York slop-pop duo’s first venture to the UK and, in truth, Noah and Alex didn’t disappoint. This was a whistlestop whizz through their fuzz-laden tunes that have been creating such a buzz. It lasted no more than half an hour and each song was over before it began.
Alex breathlessly bounces around the stage; she climb onto speaker and drum stacks as she unleashes thrashy chords and trashy (but fabulous) lyrics. I’m sure that we’ve all seen doom-laden posers offers similar postures before but Alex contrasts with their strut; for this is a joy-laden, breeze of energetic happiness. London is urged to dance; it’s a step too far for some of the cool kids in the front but, if they’d turned around, they would have seen a healthily full Lexington getting washed up in the infectious enthusiasm bounding from the stage. Brilliant.
It’s almost embarrassing to admit it but I’d never before been to the Lexington. What a fabulous live music venue it is. The downstairs bar serves up an impressive range of American beer and whisky. With staff that seem genuinely happy to serve you (by no means a given in London), it’s a place where the lone gig-goer immediately feels welcome. I settled on a draft pint of Big Wave Golden Ale, brewed by the Hawaiian company, Kona and went upstairs to watch the two bands on before Diet Cig.
Saltwater Sun had something. They appeared slightly nervous about the experience but really shouldn’t have been. Perhaps the broken string on an earlier BBC Introducing session (they made reference to this) still haunted them but they took a little while to get going. My notes suggest that there was a Cardigans influence going on here but, in truth, they probably weren’t alive at the Nina Persson peak. There were rock shapes thrown and enough tunes within this set to show why more on the ball bloggers than I have these down in their ones to watch list in 2016.
The same was true for INHEAVEN. Very true in fact. Much has been made that this is a band giving us another slice of shoegaze but I didn’t entirely see that. Yes, they made a trembling, expansive noise but there were tunes here doused with classic Americana splurge. They looked the business on stage and it’s no surprise to see that festival bookers are getting themselves in a frenzy after their standout show the following night at Eurosonic.
So, all told a fab night of wonderful new bands. All of them different; all of them with that magic spark that makes you smile. On the evidence presented, 2016 could well be a belter.
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