– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER –
I remember hearing London-based indie dance outfit Breton a few years ago and being blown away by how many great artists they managed to sound like in one piece of music. With Foals-esque vocals, Tom Vek’s grooves and the weirdness of Late Of The Pier, Breton made an eclectic debut album which impressed pretty much everyone back in 2012. After a big tour in support of said record, the outfit pretty much disappeared for a year or so.
Tonight I’m glad to say Breton are alive and well as they play to a packed room at the Soup Kitchen. The show comes part of short UK tour in support of their new LP War Room Stories and I’m pleased of tonight’s turn out, although I’m stuck at the back, but I guess that’s what you get when you get too involved with Pancake making (and devouring).
The band open with one of my stand out tracks from the new LP, ‘Got Well Soon’ which despite it’s dark techno thud isn’t quite loud enough to enhance it’s rave-like qualities. Luckily, the sound dude sorts its out and the rest of the set is loud and proud as the bass booms and their trademark cut and paste sample sounds blare out. I must say I hadn’t given the new record much of a chance, but with tonights set being mostly being made up of new tracks it sounds like a perfect follow up. It’s more instant, bigger hooks but still alternative within its sounds and arrangements.. basically, they sound huge. Album opener ‘Envy’ deserves to be a summer smash with its house-like piano stabs, while ‘302 Watch Towers’ brings a laid back hip-hop grooves to a climatic crescendo and ‘National Grid’ has this beautiful liquid drum and bass feel to it which gives the set a real sense of euphoria.
There’s a only a handful of older tracks tonight which, given the strength of the new songs, doesn’t bother me too much, but you can’t deny the power of the string samples on ‘Pacemaker’ and ‘Jostle’ is a still brilliantly arranged slice of disco-pop that gets tonight’s crowd all riled up!
On top of this, the band put their film making skills to use as there are visuals for each song played – some abstract and arty for the more spaced out tunes and others more story driven and colour for the poppier moments.
Breton are super impressive on paper and in person, tonight has re-sparked my love for beats and baselines and is quite simply a triumph.
Breton Official | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube
I joined the Silent Radio family near the very start of my move to Manchester in 2012 and I'm still having the best time! During my stay here I've been in two noisy bands, had a not so noisy solo project, made a zine, started a blog and started a radio show. It's been productive to say the least and it's all been intersperse with a shit load of gig going and beer drinking. I would love it if you followed me on twitter @dr_brainless for excitable tweets about playing, watching and living new music.
