By Jase Walker
To draw September to a close, I’ve ended up in another dingy venue somewhere in Manchester again (surprise!) and in this particular instance it’s Retro! Tonight’s show for Bicurious brings along Jackals for support for the tour and another act for tonight’s show specifically, Distant Joy.
Distant Joy kicks off pretty shortly after doors but not before quite a fair chunk of people suddenly appear with them. It’s just the one guitarist and singer for this act, and looking to be using an interesting mix or backing tracks and loops to cater for the bass and rhythm. The singer has a pretty interesting style that often at times seems like he’s reading slam poetry and delivering it with emotional body language. As for the music, it’s atmospheric and somewhat minimal which reminds me a lot of The XX, this is all some pretty fascinating stuff and completely unexpected given the headliner I came to see tonight.
Despite the few members, they put out some clever melodies and create an atmosphere on the stage becoming of a bigger act. Their singer also makes mentions of some other acts that I didn’t know about on tonight, can’t see any stage times anywhere! Oh well, not going to moan about seeing even more bands tonight! Distant Joy has been a really good opener for tonight’s show, almost like a spoken word story against a backing of chilled, ambient music, great stuff.
Given that I can’t see the stage times at the moment, I’ll just need to listen out for their name if they say it I guess! They’ve got a real punk edge to their sound though and a bit of stoner in there too similar to the weird atmospheric sound that Kyuss has. Loving their singer’s voice though, great dynamics between being haunting and breaking into forceful shouting. Is it post-punk? Is it stoner? Not quite sure but it is bloody good though! There’s definitely a bit of Nirvana in there too with how some of the songs are constructed along with when the harsher vocals are used.
They reveal themselves as Jackals! Given the time of the evening I doubt that there’s others before Bicurious. Some of the later songs have a very strong math rock influence with tight rhythms and the guitar using some intense palm muted chords to drive it home, man’s really making that telecaster do work.
I keep finding myself getting my attention drawn back to their singer when he really goes for it with the soaring screams, they go high as hell and sound incredible as well! With such strong people on the front it’s easy to overlook what the drummer’s doing but she’s kicking out some tasty grooves and evidently loves beating the shit out of those cymbals too! All in all, a real solid band, great stage performance, properly enjoyed these!
Evidently I spoke too soon about no other bands being on before Bicurious! Next on is Mind Palace! Sporting a very 70s look which their music doesn’t quite seem to match, other than the heavily blues tinged style. What is pretty obvious though is these guys write a bloody tasty riff and know how to support it with equally delicious grooves. Some of the guitar work reminds me a lot of the likes of Reef with their quick chord shape changes and habit of climbing the neck while doing it, lovely stuff. Even math rock in here too? Surprisingly diverse sound from these and I’m pretty into it!
It keeps catching me off guard throughout their whole set how they keep jamming out some tasty guitar licks that flow nicely between the different parts of their set. Partway through, one of their guitarists unfortunately snaps a string and has to quickly jump off stage and grab another string to whack on before they can continue, but doesn’t stop their singer continuing with a quick interlude. But with the fastest string change I’ve probably ever seen in a live set, they’re good to go! To keep a cool head like that in a live show is really commendable. They’ve had a few bumps and knocks throughout the set but it doesn’t look like it’s shaken them much, they’ve gotten on with it, done the best they’ve been able to do despite the hurdles and the end result has been a pretty strong show regardless.
And finally, making up for missing them at ArcTanGent, Bicurious! Armed with a bloody gigantic FX pedal set on guitars, the drummer/guitarist duo get started to an absolutely jam packed Thursday night Retro bar. Being firmly in the math rock area of music and pretty ATG-adjacent, it’d be unfair to just let that label sit there without expanding on it with influences ranging from punk to post-rock.
Their drummer, sporting a cheeky grin on his face through most of the set, doesn’t fail to be infectious to everyone that looks at him. It never fails to amaze me when bands work so well with loop pedals, it’s very easy to oversaturate or mess up a loop being slightly out of time but Bicurious do it so well it’s often hard to see when it’s been used even when you’re stood in front of the stage.
“I don’t do drugs, I just sweat a lot” immediately gets a rise out of the audience the moment they catch onto what that starting melody is! During which the guitarist runs out into the crowd and I come easily within an inch of kissing his guitar head with my nose, living dangerously! It speaks volumes as well when you have an audience that’s so enamoured with the melodies you can hear them loudly singing them along to each song!
As a bit of a treat for tonight’s show as well, we’ve got a new song they’ve only just put in their set since yesterday, and its main hook is another great example of their dancey riffage. It does sound weird but Bicurious are an instrumental band you can definitely sing along to, it’s one of those things you’d probably have to see them live to really appreciate! The Irish lads have put on an absolutely killer show and I’m still a bit miffed that I missed them at ArcTanGent, but seeing them smash it like this quite literally right Infront of my face has more than made up for it. A two-piece that is far, far greater than the sum of its parts, Bicurious really are a treat to experience!
The tour continues:
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