Errors
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER –
I’m so pleased to be watching Errors. I’ve missed the Scottish ‘post-electro’ band every time they’ve toured for one reason or another, and the only glimpse I’ve had of them live was a couple of songs at the end of a Bestival set in about 2012 that I stumbled upon by accident. All four of their albums are brilliant, morphing from the Mogwai (sorry, it’s almost compulsory to mention Mogwai when talking about Errors…) with more electronic noodlings styling of their 2008 debut It’s Not Something But It Is Like Whatever, into something altogether more subtle and of their own on this year’s superb Lease Of Life, their first album since 2012. That album has seen them push further into 80s electro-pop via techno and their post-rock roots, and features vocals that, shock, you can actually sing along to and identify proper words in and everything! It’s a brilliant album, and the majority of it gets an airing tonight.
The Deaf Institute is pleasingly full on this Easter Saturday, and the crowd seems on good form – there’s something about the Jesus Weekender that really puts people in good spirits. The band (now a threesome after founding member Greg Patterson departed in 2011) launch into ’Magna Encarta’ from 2012’s Have Some Faith In Magic, a wonderful introduction that immediately highlights how brilliant the drummer James Hamilton is, keeping time like a military operation, propelling the song forward on sheer rhythm. The afore mentioned incorporation of more vocals is introduced to us via guest singer Cecilia Stamp on the gorgeous new ‘Slow Rotor’, which unfurls slowly and stately, and the stand out track from their new album ‘Dull Care’. It’s an absolutely stunning song that could sit comfortably on a new Chromatics album, all hazy, twinkling synths, sax solos and then a breakdown of such power that it almost takes my breath away, you can feel the bass pulsate through your body, the arpeggio’d synths and Stamps vocals combining to make something truly special. It’s certainly set to be one of my favourite live moments of the year already.
‘Genuflection’ is simply wonderful, if there was any justice in the world it would be a number 1 smash and Radio 1 would be playing it on heavy rotation, it’s the kind of brilliant intelligent electro-pop that is sorely missing from the mainstream right now, and I reckon given a chance at a wider audience, it could genuinely fly. A setlist that looked like it was going to consist solely of songs from their last two albums and nothing else, was broken up by old fan favourite ‘A Rumour In Africa’, a tune from earlier in their career that doesn’t sound out of place amongst the 80s sheen of their newer material, but has a distinctly more funky vibe. A momentous ’Tusk’ rounds off the night, it’s powerful guitar cord intro quickly settling into an electronic groove that could move the most stationary of feet as the synth line soars into the air, a real hands in the air moment (not that anyone really did!) of jubilation that finishes this fine gig off very nicely indeed. It might have taken me some time to catch this band live, but it won’t be an error (apols) that I’ll be making again.
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