FÖLLAKZOID
– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD –
The atmosphere is sparse and restrained in the copper snake-pit of The Islington Mill – bound by bare brick and lamp-light. In a moment, I went from feeling evening sun on my back to being buried 4-feet below the surface, and now, unable to make out nothing more than the shape of figures and the pillars that stand between them when scanning the space, it proves to be more interesting to sink into the basement venue’s world than it is to understand it. Without introduction, Follakzoid – the Chilean-Psych three-piece born out of self-described “soul abduction”, take to the stage only to breath the first of many ghosts into their set of trance-induced transportation.
‘Electric’, the motoric lead-single taken from their latest release III, feels akin to night-driving, as the track moves steadily into the unknown, with its only spatial awareness seemingly being of the moment that’s just past and the moment the song is now pulling the audience into. The performance demonstrates the first signs of a consistent vein of control that runs through the evening, with even the most warped and explosive junctures of the night quickly returning to the Chilean three-piece’s levitative hypno-groove. Although space-cadets, Follakzoid opt for surgical precision as opposed to psychedelic flailing when it comes to exercising the ethereal and removing the audience from themselves.
‘99’ serves to highlight the symbiotic relationship between the ever-expanding sinister tangle of guitarist Domingo Garcia-Huidobro’s sonic leanings and the mantric nature of vocalist Juan Pablo Rodrigues’ chemtrail thoughts. Often kissing-off into the air, the rhythm section consistently anchors the twin haze-heads by fully embodying the “less is more” ideal and ploughing through the fields of texture – never letting anything become too overbearing or psychically disorientating. The track taken from their 2013 epic ‘II’ also serves as a perfect example of the band’s ability to explore all corners of a concept, as ‘99’ broods on the same riff until what started out as a fragment of an idea is finally warped into a completely different animal.
In the same way a photograph holds a boundless moment within an arid form, Follakzoid manage to contain messages from the unknown within double-digit-minute explorations of weightlessness – grounded by angular repetition. Free of visual accompaniment, Follakzoid’s live experience begs for the audience to leave themselves alone for a moment or two and find elation within their music. Although of this earth, the Chilean natives have made it clear this evening that they’re simply passing through.
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Music Journalism student and lover of all things sensory and cosmic.
