It’s rare to see a band on their first proper show, and a band as good as this. Going from playing open mic nights to headlining a Sunday at Wharf Chambers, smiles were all around as popular, cheeky chappy frontman Jack O’Connor joked it wasn’t the best idea for the band to have fish and chips right before the show. However, there was surely nothing bloated about this performance.
(Photo: BasementLeeds)
A 6-song set ensued encompassing mainly unreleased demos, quirkily available to buy on the merch stand in old fifa game cases. The interplay and shared vocals between Jack and keys player Mia reminded me of a young Kim Gordon and Thurston Moor, with Mia in particular commanding the assuredness of Gordon's later years.
Static Caravan’s one release, a demo of Four Brick Walls, available via South-East London record label Unfocused Love’s 2021 compilation was undoubtedly the apotheosis of their set. Six minutes long, with synths and tempo at points evocative of a Clint Eastwood theme, and somehow simultaneously The Murder Capital’s Green and Blue. It was certainly an experience.
To add an interesting flavour to their approach to post-punk which they all claim to study at the University of Leeds, they summoned their sax-playing friend to join in on the action. This went down like a storm with the audience, adding a raucous and noisy dimension to an often-oversaturated genre. They culminated their set with perhaps their most humorous song of the night, an enjoyable polemic on the privatisation and future of British railways.
For a band whose name commands mundane stasis, the roots of their experimentalism was there to be seen. They are certainly moving in the right direction and with their first date receiving such a large turnout, it is very exciting to envisage where they may go from here.