Live Review: CHVRCHES @ Birthdays 25/09/13
Having just released their debut album, The Bones Of What You Believe, earlier in the week, the buzz around CHVRCHES has been huge, propelling the Scottish trio into the big leagues. Not undeservedly, their distinct post-rock, emo-electro pop has found them fans both here and across the pond.
It was a surprise, then, to find very little fanfare on arriving at Birthdays in Dalston. Arriving crippling early, the ‘coffee-shop-cum-bar’ facade threw me a bit. Inside a few people were milling around, victims of the same early enthusiasm; the atmosphere was dead.
Fast-forward an hour and the lights were off, an orange siren radiating from the stage. A crowd had formed – mainly built up of bearded men – and were pushing forward. Synths pounded out the speakers as the band emerged on stage.
For a small venue, the sound was crystal clear. Lauren Mayberry’s voice translates from the record to a live setting. Bookended either side were Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, enthusiastically banging on various synthesisers, pads and drum machines.
Initially, it wouldn’t be cruel to compare 25-year-old Mayberry to a teenager performing her first gig. But launching into ‘Gun’, she embraced the atmosphere, the crowd embracing it with her.
Songs such as ‘Lies’, ‘Night Sky’, ‘Recover’, and ‘By Throat’ highlight what good song writers Mayberry, Cook and Doherty are. Soon Mayberry swapped with Doherty for the male-led ‘Under the Tide’, with Doherty flinging himself emotively across the stage. They closed the set with current single ‘The Mother We Share’, the crowd chanting along emphatically.
However, for such a small venue the grand scale and quality of the production was a bit lost. There were also a few technical difficulties – arpeggiators out of sync; vocals out of tune.
The trio seemed genuinely humbled that people had come on a weeknight to see them. Amusingly, this is probably the last time that CHVRCHES will perform in a venue this size again. Soon, tacky multi-changing LED lights will be discarded, replaced with huge lightshows; basements clubs replaced for theatres.
CHVRCHES obviously know what they are doing. Embarking on a national tour in October, a second following in March, the band need to rid themselves of small mistakes. However, there is something immensely charming about their innocence.
Calling out at the end of the show they said: “Thanks for giving a shit!” Frankly, with two headline tours to get through, they better get used to it.
– Alim Kheraj
Photo: Paul Broomfield
