The Louche FC – Lucky Beaches – Wet Mouth live review

Posted on 18 October 2011
By Richard Lewis
  • Share:

At a buzzing Milk HQ Loft, drones, state of the art retro-future pop and saturated guitar tones all collided at Milk:Presents first full-blown gig.

Despite their name suggesting a five aside team worried about muddying their immaculate football strips, The Louche FC were far less aloof than their moniker suggests.

Currently making waves with their inspired noise-pop, the four piece dealt in echoing, distant guitar backdrops with a hint of doomy melodrama ala The Smiths in the vocal melodies.

The quartet’s primary influence, 1980s era My Bloody Valentine when they were positioned between indie pop and full blown psychedelia, was counterbalanced with the FC’s unhurried air.

Being based in Manchester, the city’s musical past unsurprisingly shone through in the simple, mournful guitar melodies, reminiscent of New Order.

The band’s set unfolded superbly, led by lead singer Kyoko’s lazily melodic vocals, reaching a highpoint on (I Cannot Be) Much More Than This’ beautific surf guitar shimmer.

With projectors beaming vintage footage of Milk bottling plants on to the walls above the stage, the gradual effect became almost mesmeric.

As Liverpool’s newest music venue, Milk HQ’s maze of rooms and twinkling cityscapes beneath make it possibly the most remarkable.

Before the FC took to the pitch, Lucky Beaches turned in another supremely confident display of cutting edge alt pop.

Bathed under red light, Milk: Presents preferred colours, Circles (In My Mind), offered the best demonstration of how strong the band’s songs are, fleshed out live from the lo-fi acoustic and drum machine home studio recording.

New song, Ease My Worried Mind the penultimate track in the set further demonstrated Muscatelli and associates sure grasp of the pop song, as the band’s set swelled towards a dozen tracks.

With an EP and a single already released in less than twelve months of their first year, ver ‘Beaches proved quality and quantity can happily co-exist.

Wet Mouth on first were greatly impressive offering a masterclass in state of the art 1992-93 alt. rock with a modern twist and a slew of Kim Deal esque thudding basslines.

Sourcing The Breeders, the unfairly forgotten Throwing Muses and most predominantly PJ Harvey, the boy-girl quartet’s set peaked with Red Hot Euphoria, a gem of song anchored by a descending riff that evoked a slinky unspooling down a flight of stairs

The debut gig event by Milk: Presents following their raucous house warming party, the promoters truly smashed it out of the park first time out. Raise a glass of pasteurised as a toast.

Author