The Invisible
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER –
The Manchester rain is unrelenting this Monday evening. It’s as if nature has given us an unusually long summer in order to reserve all its rain for the time new students move to the city, giving them a true taste of what they’re in for. In most cities, this would significant impact on attendance at tonight’s The Invisible concert, but a Manchester audience is embittered to these conditions and we turn out in our numbers.
Dave Okumu, the singer and guitarist of the band, is seemingly prepared for the conditions, though in a much more stylish manner than the rest of us, donning a long coat and a blue panama hat. The funk that underpins most of the three-piece’s songs is at the centre of opener ‘Save You’, the second track from 2016’s Patience, which grows into a wonderful chorus and some lovely duetting between Dave and bassist Tom Herbert.
They’re more than just a funk band though, as proved by ‘Best of Me’ which shows off the huge number of genres they straddle, at once krautrock, at once disco and at once hip hop, when Dave raps the verse with an effortless cool. ‘K Town Sunset’, which features Connan Mockasin, is one of a trio of songs on the album featuring guest vocalists, with Rosie Lowie and Anna Calvi providing vocals for the other two. Tonight though Dave takes charge and this slowburner, which edges towards the R&B canon, is one of the evening’s standouts, elevating when Dave wails ‘sometimes I feel like I’m running away’ in a beautiful falsetto.
There are missteps along the way, ‘Different’ is directionless without the guiding voice of Rosie Lowe, Prince tribute ‘Oceans Of Purple’ is drawn out and ‘Believe In Yourself’ lacks the variation present on most of tonight’s tracks. In context of the whole performance though, these are few and far between. ‘Memories’ shimmers with a beautiful synth intro that could soundtrack a scenic plane ride and closer ‘London Girl’ ends with an incredible jam by the band that sees both guitarists go toe-to-toe against each other, tussling like fighting cocks.
Before they finish tonight, there’s time for Dave to thank the fans for the continued interest in live music, declaring ‘without you, we are nothing.’ The conditions were completely against The Invisible tonight, it was a Monday night, it was pissing it down, but in these adverse times live music continues to win over and over again.
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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.
