By Binki
Even on a bad day, I would usually say I’m about as grunge as an Aperol Spritz and a Starbucks loyalty card. As I sit writing this too, the warm embrace of coffee-shop jazz is a far cry from the smack in the face of last night’s gig at Crofters Rights. Something in me now is craving the extraordinary balance of undiluted energy and skillful control found in the musicianship of each band almost as much as a tomato and mozzarella panini. And if Life in Mono’s headline performance was anything to go by, I can now confirm that I’ve claimed the word grunge as my own.
I hope they don’t mind me saying this, but there was a certain pop sensibility to Somerset alt-rock band Atlas Rise. So much so that throughout their set I was left bemused by the clarity in the tone of their frontman’s vocals, amazed that a voice could sound as buttery as a standards-crooner whilst also as dynamic as the battle cries of 90s nu-metal. This, along with their obvious charm on stage brought a stream of punters into Crofter’s main room, eager to be impressed by their soaring melodies and clashing rhythms.
One standout song from their set, ‘Spaces,’ reminded me of an 80s rock power-ballad that would sit comfortably in a mix with tracks like ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorns’ from Poison, with anthemic guitar solos and hook-heavy songwriting sprinkled throughout Atlas Rise’s otherwise high-voltage performance. This was best on display in their faithful homage to Muse with ‘Reapers,’ with frontman Louis Stone tackling successfully the virtuosic style of Mathew Ballamy, so much so that the duo almost seems too well rehearsed; note perfect even. I hope they might nudge out of their polished musicianship to show us something vulnerable and raw in the future.
For fans of: The Plot in You, Linkin Park, Blink-182.
Atlas Rise’s Instagram.
If you’re looking for something raucous then Bristol-based multi-instrumentalist Lucky Thief’s live set is a sound you can plunge right into. Lucky Thief was joined onstage by his longtime live band, with each member of the Lucky Thief crew edging towards the front of the stage with each successive song. I had been foot-stomping right at the back of crowd, with a slight case of imposter-syndrome, but the set quickly became a set drenched in more than just sweat; it was oozing undiluted energy, so I just had to elbow my way through the crowd of committed fans.
There was then a word that neatly summed up Lucky Thief’s uncontainable sound for an outsider like me: stomp-rock. Although I could hear moments of the heavy-metal that I became peripherally aware of through being dragged to Iron Maiden concerts by my dad as a kid, with those scratchy, more deliberately gut-punching sounds, Lucky Thief got me moving in a way I hadn’t before. The polyphonic approach to melody, with guitar bouncing off Thief’s vocals just before launching into pounding, yet melodic bass lines, suggests that Lucky Thief’s rock is a chaos carefully contained.
Stand-out tracks for me included ‘Silencer,’ a single also taken from Lucky Thief’s debut project ‘D.I.Y.’ It’s a warbler of a track, that despite all the distortion on record, was crisp and metallic in sound live, with Lucky Thief’s rich, crackling vocals, soaring over all its competing harmonies and rhythms in command of the crowd. This was a common thread throughout the set, leaving the crowd just at tipping point and mid-breath as they rounded off to make way for Life in Mono. It was a striking sound, paired with their visual presentation, an earnest masculinity and full-body tattoos, that solidified Lucky Thief as something pulled straight out of an early 2000s Channel 4 coming-of-age comedy.
For fans of: Watabout, Double Sun, The Fods
Lucky Thief’s Instagram
Anticipation had been brooding for the evening’s top-bill, with the main room’s crowd now spilling out into the foyer. The venue had then sunk into darkness too, with all eyes on lead vocalist Sarah Clayton. At first her vocals were understated, with a clarity that cut through the feverish grunge of the band at full capacity. This tenderness is something I hadn’t yet heard that evening, juxtaposed against a mountain of noise during the opening track’s chorus that transformed Clayton’s isolated vocals and James Davis finger-style guitar playing in the verses from clear and controlled to almost valkyrie-like; as if the vulnerability in her melodies were now battle-cries.
I understood then why Life in Mono had accumulated such an attentive community of fans; their command over the audience was purely down to their musicality. This was something I didn’t expect, having made assumptions about alt-rock that gave it a stereotype of over-the-top showmanship and cliched lyrics. Obviously, this wasn’t the case for Life in Mono, who really did ‘sway me to the darkside,’ with heartbreakingly honest lyricism, and an earnest attention to detail. Each song of the set bled into the next, with even the fuzz of the guitars seeming to be carefully arranged.
There was also, however, a madness and potency to their set amongst the simplicity of the songwriting, best heard in ‘Keeping Secrets’. At times they would all let go, like in the middle of their track ‘Sex to White Noise,’ with one eerily repetitive chord on the synth preempting the explosion of sound in the track’s chorus. It was then that I realised that I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where Life in Mono lived, at first hearing the trip-hop influences of bands like Portishead and Zero 7, and then joyously disorientated by their love for grunge, which I had no real experience of. Life in Mono is clearly a band in their own lane.
‘Blackout,’ came into the set combining everything I loved about ‘Keeping Secrets’ and ‘Sex with White Noise.’ The twinkling finger-style guitar from Clayton and bouncy bass lifted the subtle honesty heard in Clayton’s voice tangled itself into the scratchy, broken soundscape created by James and Mike on guitar and drums. When listening back to the track on record, I found that it didn’t replicate the crescendo of energy growing in the venue as the song grew larger and larger. It makes sense then that Life in Mono have amassed an avid live fanbase, who were instead hungry for handmade CDs made by the band; which are to include demos and live recordings of unreleased material. Such a commitment to musicianship, and Clayton in particular, reminded me of the spectacle that is St. Vincent’s live shows, especially coupled with James Davis virtuous playing in every guitar solo
I then left the gig at Crofters Rights feeling as though I had perhaps missed out: now open to the sounds of the evening. As an outsider to the sounds of alt-rock and grunge, last night’s acts couldn’t have been a better introduction. I’ll keep my Aperol Spritz and Starbucks though.
Life In Mono also gave a shout out to Rowan Deverson for delivering on the sound for the evening!
For fans of: Bitter Kisses, The Sewing Club, The Pretty Reckless, PJ Harvey
Life In Mono’s Instagram
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