By Jase Walker
So, with the weather becoming a bit warmer, I’ve turned up to Manchester’s Deaf Institute in a bit of a haggard state but I’m absolutely ready for Palm Reader after rinsing their latest album for the past six months.
Sadly, blanket couldn’t make it so they’ve been replaced by False Advertising on the Manchester date (Coldbones for the rest). As I’ve arrived, I’ve just found that there’s another support act in the form of Astral Bodies, so this makes two bands I’ve not heard of on the support slots.
Before the band even gets on stage, I’m greeted with a discordant guitar drone from someone on stage but shortly after arriving and grabbing a drink, Astral Bodies hit the stage. The first thing that’s apparent is this massive fat droning style of playing from the bass, it’s reverberating through the floor, the walls, my pint! With a guitar accentuating this and causing discordant noise over the top, it’s certainly an interesting sound and definitely part of what I would consider the type of act that would end up at Arctangent festival.
Admittedly it’s hard to figure out where the demarcation point is between songs since it’s going from one point to another without any sort of breaks. It’s not uncommon for a lot of prog-styled acts to do this mind, but it sometimes does make it difficult to focus without a bit of a breather – as it turns out, they’re just *really* long songs. On the whole, a solid performance, not really my thing.
False Advertising, the trio filling the slot for Blanket tonight, make a quiet walk up to the stage for the next set of the night. After a brief issue, they kick off but I can’t quite hear the guitar, I think the bass might be overpowering it. They’re kicking out a lot of energy but the fact that I can barely hear the guitar is letting it down a bit. It’s a shame because otherwise I’m into the sort of math-grunge sound they’ve got. They’re super animated on stage too with the guitarist/singer and bass player jumping all over the place.
The singer’s voice is fantastic though, all that punky energy of the likes of Beth Ditto or Karen O and I think she’s harmonising with the drummer to really give it some oomph too. Partway through the set it looks like the guitar levels have been upped a bit and it’s sounding great, this is more like it! With the latter songs sounding much stronger with the sound issues out of the way, the jumping between straight up punk and math rock back and forth is fantastic to hear, all accompanied by the singer’s strong vocal work matching the melodies. I’m still a bit sad about missing blanket, but at the same time I’ve seen a band like this smash it in the end, and will keep an eye out for them in future!
And slightly earlier than stated, Palm Reader finally takes the stage and it’s time to revel in the songs from the new album! The seven of them fill up a relatively small stage here at the Deaf Institute, barely fitting all the kit on let alone the band members! As you’d expect with a band with this much going on, the sound fills the venue and surrounds you from every angle, yet well balanced enough to pick out what each member is doing, top stuff.
Playing one of my favourites after some brief technical issues, ‘Hold/Release’, with its soaring epic chorus and its pounding verse passages, what a song. It’s always striking how Palm Reader manage fusing so many subtle melodic elements into their songs against a backdrop of drones, fairly similar to how The Ocean does it.
Smashing through a couple of old ones, the main thing that sticks out in comparison with their newer effort is just how hard they go on mid-song breakdowns because man, sometimes it’s just absolute gravel when it comes to the grinding noise they’re putting out. Honestly these guys are an absolute treat to see live, massive sound, all animated as they can be with a packed stage, if you like your prog with a fat sound then these guys are definitely it.
- The tour continues at Dead Wax in Birmingham tonight (Friday 25 March) and finishes at The Garage in Glasgow tomorrow (Saturday 26 March).
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