Liverpool based synth-pop quartet Wave Machines
release Ill Fit, the first single from their as-yet-untitled new
album, on 22nd October 2012 which co-coincided with a return to Bristol,
gracing the cosy upper deck of THEKLA.
Establishing themselves through live shows with The Flaming Lips and Roxy Music, the band took a step back from the live circuit to work on the follow up to their critically acclaimed 2009 debut Wave If You’re Really There.
The headliners who were peddling their fresh single on limited edition 10” (described by the singer as "blue and big, like a big Smurf") and digital download. Ill Fit with is a glitchy art-disco vibe and lyrics of self-doubt and commitment and is typical of the bands idiosyncratic look at the human condition.
Establishing themselves through live shows with The Flaming Lips and Roxy Music, the band took a step back from the live circuit to work on the follow up to their critically acclaimed 2009 debut Wave If You’re Really There.
The headliners who were peddling their fresh single on limited edition 10” (described by the singer as "blue and big, like a big Smurf") and digital download. Ill Fit with is a glitchy art-disco vibe and lyrics of self-doubt and commitment and is typical of the bands idiosyncratic look at the human condition.
Their showcased new material notably the haunting Counting Birds reveals a darker, more nuanced vision for the emotive disco-hook. Simultaneously intimate and epic, ghostly and brazen, the four take the sonic spectra that the band developed on their debut and have cleverly expanded it and added layers of depth.
Watching Wave Machines live perhaps enhanced by the sweaty, over cramped, equipment-laden, audience-level stage added to this but they appear as a real team effort, with all members having a crack at vocals and swapping lead roles on stage; they're good fun both to watch and shimmy the night away to their infectious self-deprecating pulse.
Falsetto vocals abound, the odd clang of cowbell and wood of the clarinet; it's a bit jaunty, a bit disco with sprinklings of classical guitar, on a boat.
Watching Wave Machines live perhaps enhanced by the sweaty, over cramped, equipment-laden, audience-level stage added to this but they appear as a real team effort, with all members having a crack at vocals and swapping lead roles on stage; they're good fun both to watch and shimmy the night away to their infectious self-deprecating pulse.
Falsetto vocals abound, the odd clang of cowbell and wood of the clarinet; it's a bit jaunty, a bit disco with sprinklings of classical guitar, on a boat.
These Liverpudlian nerd-avengers however present two distinct band identities. There's Fun Wave Machines, the pump for Bee Gees-style vocals while tidy funk bops along in the background; geeks angling for some semi-awkward dance floor action; upbeat numbers like Keep the Lights On and The Greatest Escape We Ever Made are sleek pop confections of the highest order
.
Then there's the other side where primary vocalist Timothy Bruzon relies more on his natural register, these songs ditch the electronics for arrangements that are swellingly quietly epic, as if the band is finally facing their dead and lost relationships head on. Such is the moral on Dead Houses, where semi-whispers about old homes, abandoned homes, childhood homes-- but his loss is loud.
Punk Spirit proved to be the crowd pleaser with all of THEKLA's crew rousing this shanty at the end of a truly humbling and musically fastidious performance.
