This evening we went along to the Electrowerkz venue, a cavernous and maze-like old factory building just around the back of Angel tube station, to see Esben & The Witch in concert.
It was an odd evening, starting with a coffee in the unexpectedly charming little Candid Cafe, which is up two flights of stairs in a building just down the street from Electrowerkz. We arrived at the gig just in time to catch worriedaboutsatan, an ambient electro band, who really rocked the venue with complex soundscapes and thundering ‘doom-laden’ bass lines. Funnily enough, the friend that I went with had misread the name of the band, and had assumed they were called ‘worried about Stan’ – an interesting mistake given that their style was quite reminiscent of the band that started off this whole genre, ‘A Guy Called Gerald’… Next to take the stage were Gallops, a four-piece instrumental group from Wrexham. What a find – big, powerful, mesmering ‘post-rock’ littered with computer-generated tunes and found sounds. I felt that it was a bit of a shame that there was no vocalist – a singer would really add something to their already very rich and unique sound.
Of course then it was time for the main event – Esben and the Witch, riding high off the back of their immensely popular and rather controversial ‘Marching Song‘. What we got tonight was a really edgy and intense performance, just as you might expect if you’ve seen the video for their debut single! There was lots of material from their new album, ‘Violet Cries’, due out in January of next year, including the big, anthemic “Warpath” which you can listen to on their official website, the enigmatic and curiously named “Lucia, At the Precipice”, and of course the seminal “Marching Song” put in an appearance. I’m still stuck on comparisons with Siouxsie and the Banshees I’m afraid, but that’s no bad thing. I have a feeling that they are only a few short steps away from creating material as challenging and memorable as anything that Siouxsie has produced. I can’t wait to explore the album in January