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The group with the most intriguing band name in Liverpool open their set at the Academy with new track ‘Please’ boasting the added visual hook of vocalist Adam thrashing a synth drum.
Rialto Burns’ melding of alternately tender and angular guitar riffs, soaring vocals and electronic undertow is given extra weight by the anchoring thud of the rhythm section, in particularly strong form this evening.
‘Constellations’ wailing ‘This is my last resort’ hook, its star-gazing vocals, juxtaposed with synths and supplemented by a simple, persuasive Edge-style guitar riff wrings a huge emotional impact out of its cold electronic sound.
‘For the Asking’s’ melancholy riffage sweeps past, as does ‘Release,’ built on a compelling abrasive guitar riff and stop-start Stephen Morris drumbeats, recalling Movement era New Order. ‘Show Me Your Colours’ thrilling re-imagining of early Simple Minds with its pulsatant synth riff well to the fore, sees vocalist Adam clinging on to the mic stand for dear life, his vocals scaling the summit of the band’s beautiful noise.
Becoming more animated as the set progresses, faced with a larger stage, the frontman will conceivably blossom into a fully-fledged Dave Gahan-style rabble rouser.
While Two Door Cinema Club operate in relatively similar sonic territory to the ‘Burns, the present band deal in darker subject matter, their perma-black clad image largely extending to their lyrics.
‘Back to Life’ their darkest track, built around abrasive call and response guitar phrases and sonorous, shrugging “So much for sacrifice” lyric, evokes a world of harshly lit, deserted late night city-centres.
The sublime ‘Slow/Fade’ meanwhile, constructed around a rising and falling synth riff, is possibly the high point of the set, its electronic sway and gleaming guitar arpeggios combining beautifully. Ending with the anthemic ‘Radiate’, a continuous explosion of a track, the song and the set finishes with the sound breaking down gradually to its thudding electronic heart.
Another sterling display from the ‘Burns, their growing confidence onstage more than matched by the boundless ambition of their sound.
Photos by Iwona Siestrzewitowska/Purple Revolver.
The gig was a Mean Fiddler Presents show at the Liverpool 02 Academy