As a stage light gently smouldered off Sam Genders’ hairless scalp, he became evidently rattled. Amongst the distorted blares of electro indie fuzzing from the PA, Genders’ band looked around in timid confusion. No one could start playing. Nuzzled in a booth remained a dishevelled, apathetic DJ, completely oblivious to the night’s already delayed set times. While the band pointed to distant figures for assistance, Genders smiled to himself privately in hopes that the situation will ultimately deal with itself.
Diagrams
It was this incessant politeness that seemed to be the overriding theme for Diagrams at Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen. Having returned from the European leg of their tour, a humbled Genders bumbled his way through the onstage performance like a giddy schoolchild. While he awkwardly jerked and charmed, his small arsenal of backing musicians wriggled with fervour. The recent release of Diagrams‘ first LP, Black Light, received an array of praise from the music press and, if tonight’s showcase was anything to go by, it seems they could not be more overtly grateful.
The night begun with a somewhat elongated set from Jesus and Mary Chain impressionists, Younghusband. The kraut-tinged psyche rock boys fashioned a predictable pallet of fuzzed out, Sonic Youth appropriateness without any distinct presence or originality. Nonetheless, their late 80’s throwback Sub Pop sounds were entertaining enough for the sedated crowd before them, whom dazedly grooved throughout the duration.
Fellow Sonic Cathedral record label mates, Yeti Lane, follow. This French duo have been riding the indie wave with ease and precision with commercial aid from overseas comrades such as M83 and Team Ghost. Unfortunately, their brand of tranquillised pop quirk misses the mark as their sprawling ambience loses itself in a room of despondency. And while songs such as The Analog Wheel are equally as adventurous as they are conscientious, the general comedown equates to an empty lack of satisfaction.
Diagrams
The same cannot be decreed of Genders’ band. Diagrams gallop through the majority of Black Light with explicit creativity and emotive courtesy. While the electro staccato glitches from studio tracks like Appetite and Black Light maintained an essence of jovial folktronica, live they translate effortlessly to warm hearted skiffle pop. Their other worldly harmonies soar like the key drone of a Yamaha synthesiser. Genders reproduces the album’s multitude of layers through a building block of delay and loop pedals (leaving a gang of onlookers assuming all the music had been pre-recorded before the show). Songs such as Night All Night and Ghost Lit replicated an air of melancholy as Diagrams’ Delphic synth player winced with crushing sentiment.
Genders sweetly thanked each participant of the night on more than one occasion to a tentative audience that applauded and whooped the band through to encore: the jumpy beating of Tall Beatings. Of course, as the seething proverb highlights, ‘nice guys finish last,‘ it proves to be a patent benefit for Diagrams as they close the evening with a demure bow and a new found sense of confidence for their upcoming headline dates.
by Tom Watson
Related Posts
