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With their fourth EP ‘A Rush of Blood’ due to be released on the 1st of December this year Bristol-based indie-rock group Coasts played the Arts Club loft tonight to a modest crowd of affectionate fans.
The five (very pretty) man band was supported by two similarly lovely lots of lads Whitecliff and Racing Glaciers.
Whitecliff are a product of Paul McCartney’s internationally renowned institute for performing arts (LIPA) and such reputable education in music shows through in how established their sound already is, only a couple of years into their journey as a band.
Having recently released their Debut EP ‘Everybody Knows’, Whitecliff opened the show and were immediately rocking heavy electric guitar reminiscent of The Killers and Queens of The Stone Age strains, along with some serious Fluorescent Adolescent riffs.
Fresh-faced yet already proficient in their craft, Whitecliff are like a grungy One Direction; well-marketed, well-groomed, well-styled, the key difference being that they’re making music for themselves, not to please a certain crowd.
Drawing together their tight musical elements, their frontman Oliver Nagy, hailing from Cologne, gives a natural, high energy and professional performance involving some confident strutting and swoon-worthy/cute-as-you-like dance moves.
He sounds most closely like Brandon Flowers, of The Killers, and has undeniable falsetto skills that will make your tummy feel funny in a thumbs-up way (if you’re into that).
Precision, intensity, performance: Whitecliff are already a stellar group, a must-see and one to watch.
Next supporting, and touring with, Coasts were a Macclesfield-based band called Racing Glaciers. RG’s sound is heavy and thick with guitar.
Also a five piece, they delivered the Arts Club what can be described as fast-paced ‘build-up’ songs that start small and grow into powerful crescendos of song and voice.
Racing Glaciers present a forceful set including tracks which would be well at home on the soundtrack of an intense US teen-love-drama.
Lyrics like ‘feel your night bleed into me’ are particularly evocative of this mood. Picture this song accompanying an Edward-Cullen-type protagonist leaning a chiselled forehead against a rain-spattered car window looking apathetic and lovelorn as he disappears into the horizon.
Their tracks are enjoyable but not very varied. However, just when you thought they had rolled into another song of a similar ilk – PLOT TWIST – out comes a trumpet on the end of their set which brings some degree of majesty to the evening’s proceedings.
This surprises the crowd and secures some unexpected applause around the room mid-song. Racing Glaciers end on a high, leaving the audience suitably warmed up for the headline act.
Ah, Coasts, now the third 5-piece (boy)band of the night.
Their influences such as Foals and Arctic Monkeys are patent in their music and, having avoided major record companies and instead stoically embarked on an independent route Coasts are still learning, evolving and growing.
According to their Facebook page, “Non stop touring has built a quickly growing group of fans across the country with Heaven in London already booked for their next London show in November – before they have received any mainstream media support.”
This is impressive for a band formed only three years ago and is perhaps testament to the powers of the internet (think SoundCloud and YouTube) in terms of independent promotion and production.
To place them into context Coasts sound like Two Door Cinema Club (with those catchy staccato guitar hooks) but they look way more boy band-y and sound way rockier.
Musically they were on-point and vocally they were clear and strong but at times the lead singer is so polluted by affecting an exaggerated intensity (think lots of hair flipping and gripping onto the mic for dear life) that he overshadows the music a little.
At one point he gets so into it that he does in fact face-plant the floor, which is irrelevant really, but had to be mentioned because it was undeniably funny.
He recovers gracefully, if a little red-faced, and although he maintains this energy for the rest of the set he tones down the swaggering which allows the music to shine through all the more.
Coasts are commanding at first.
Songs like ‘Stay’ and ‘Wash Away’ are penetrating, passionate and riddled with early-20’s frustration, but perhaps their sound is so consistent that a few songs in it becomes difficult to discern one track from another.
However, despite this heavy concentration of youthful angst, at the close of their set the audience of obviously adoring fans are dancing and singing along, holding this developing band in loving esteem.
So, although their sound is a little limited, ultimately they are getting it very right.
With a little guidance and nurturing Coasts could be onto something here so stay-tuned.