Lower Dens
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER –
A blue mist stands in the air as Lower Dens make for the stage. Tonight, they’re cut down to just a three piece, as their electric guitarist had to remain at home due to a family illness. Such things could stop a number of bands in their tracks; not Lower Dens, though they’ve come and brought a little bit of their guitarist – no, really he played all his bits live and recorded them just for this tour. Kudos.
Jana Hunter, Lower Dens’ inimitable lead singer, explains this after tonight’s first song ‘Quo Vadis’. It’s an absolute belter and her statement quickly quells any doubts the audience may have. ‘I Get Nervous’ carries the same beauty, but sadly it is cut short when the song ends sharply and unexpectedly.
No time to linger though, we’re straight into ‘Electric Current.’ Initally driven by synths, Jana soon presides over an immense transition, cooly shifting the pitch of her voice to match the now hypnotic drum beat. It’s wonderful and a real sure sign of quality.
Vocally, Jana is excellent. Her voice never wavers and she has a control, that must be the envy of many. ‘Ondine’ is her best example of this vocal quality; here her voice adds real depth and quality to a song with purposely sparse instrumentation.
Jana quickly announces that there will be no encore, as she longer sees the purpose of them. It’s a great point and one that you’d think would be covered by some blog post out there – at the end of the day, who wants to see the obligatory cover song after that unneccessary break?
Instead Lower Dens give it to us all in one; the punching drums continue to set the beat of the night and we’re hit with song after song of unceasing quality. The last two tonight are potentially their best; ‘Sucker’s Shangri La’ is hypnotic throughout causing lots of involuntarily arm movemenets among tonight’s audience; while ‘Societe Anoyme’ is at a slightly different pace but just as enthralling.
It’s been a while since a band sent me out loving them, more than I did when I arrived. Bands normally reach my often high expectations but tonight Lower Dens smashed them. Imagine seeing them as a four piece?!
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Hi all, my name is Paddy and I have a love for everything from African music to indie to house (basically anything other than heavy metal). Gigging and listening to albums are genuinely the things I most value and love doing.
