The North Yorkshire music scene definitely deserves to be celebrated, and what better way to do so than to bring three of the immediate region’s most promising up and coming bands together at an intimate venue in the shape of City Screen’s The Basement. Both Post War Glamour Girls and Battle Lines have adorned Leeds and Reading festival stages in their fledgling careers, and La Petite Mort are growing quickly, having made an appearance at Galtres festival this year and with a growing following in their York hometown.
The night opens with the York-based shoegaze band who have been thrilling crowds with recent performances and it’s easy to see why, with their effervescent charm and effortless stage presence, they make for an entertaining watch, full of lazy, infectious riffs. The band play a number of songs from their ‘Ooze’ EP, a definite standout being ‘Move Too Slow’, a syncopated, intense cornucopia of sounds that’s defined by an infectious guitar riff that makes the climax of the song a memorable one. Their performance is assured and enjoyable, and their stage presence as well as their brilliantly constructed tracks mean that they will definitely continue making their way up in the music world.
http://youtu.be/B8n_WOFMSQg
Post War Glamour Girls’ first appearance at The Basement is perfectly competent, but their performance in comparison to their companions is lacking in the same excitement as one song blends in to another with an unfortunate regularity that makes what started as a perfectly pleasant performance one of frustrating monotony. The announcement of the arrival of their first album next year is a chance for them to show that their musicality does manage to achieve more than their average live performance does.
http://youtu.be/iEUuPsx047s
The main attraction however are definitely Battle Lines, who impressed with their ‘Hearts’ single release earlier in the year as well as with their new track, ‘Colonies’, and looked at ease at Leeds festival, displaying the sort of class that suggests they may return to the festivals with a higher billing in future. Their set at The Basement consists of all three of these songs, and has an electric and energetic feel to it that reignites the evening, every song just as enjoyable and as diverse as the last. Their sometimes sinister, sometimes unsettling but relaxed and most definitely striking sound means that they are definitely ones to look out for in future.
Sure, the gig could be more crowded, and The Basement really is a tiny venue, but the acoustics are pretty good in here and overall this is a high quality show that shows that the underground music scene in this area is definitely rich and worth checking out, even if there remains a lack of refinement that is to be expected of fledgling bands such as these. Promise was the name of the game, and despite Post War Glamour Girls’ under-par showing, there is plenty of it evident here and much to look forward to in the future.
