By DJ Astrocreep
A first gig of the year, after a couple of near misses due to health and weather, sees me take in the sombre delights of Ist Ist with a single band support. Gorilla is a venue known very well for its sound, so it seems like the perfect occasion to take in some quality post punk and get started on my gigs for the year.
Poor Effort take to the stage to no fanfare and get straight into it. The sound seems strangely muted and the vocals are far too nonchalantly deliver led in a spoken word setting for the way the audio is set up, leaving it largely unintelligible. The singer keeps at least one hand in his pockets at all times, whether to impress upon himself the style of delivery or through nerves, I’m not sure. It just comes across as somewhat disinterested and ill at ease, while the rest of the band are also quiet, meaning people chatting around me are far more audible than the music.
Given the acoustics of the venue and the usual quality of the staff, I’m unsure if this is all a stylistic choice or not, but it makes it a lot harder to try to appreciate what’s happening on stage. In the end, a mixture of all the above means I’m also left fairly disinterested, which is a pity, as a lyrics video to the second song playing behind them shows that the lyrics are pretty good quality. Maybe a band to catch on another occasion to give a fair chance to.
As Ist Ist take to the stage, it’s a fair bit quieter than I would expect, almost like a hush of reverence. A ten year anniversary is nothing to be sniffed at, especially when being so busy in decent sized venues and it’s a strong testament to the quality of their music that they are so popular at a time other bands have already failed are in the midst of their death throes.
There is a definite air of Joy Division about their music, maybe with more recent luminaries such as White Lies at times that sounds absolutely immaculate in this venue. The crowd are well up for it, swelling their ranks across the room to the point the merch stall gets positioned up behind me in the access seating area and singing along where they know the words.
One band member remarks about their first ever gig, a show in Night and Day where they played 11 songs and he wasn’t lying. We get a total of 25 songs, including the five song encore. Songs like ‘Jennifer’s Lips’, ‘It Stops Where It Starts’ and ‘Nothing More Nothing Less’ are personal highlights of the main set, with ‘Hope To Love Again’ and set closer ‘Ghost’ my personal picks of the encores.
A great night of gorgeous music.
- All content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.
