Photo: Michael Lee Jamison
Gigwise experienced an indie-rock spectacular this afternoon at Reading with back-to-back sets from Sundara Karma, Hippo Campus, Spring King and Gengahr.
Fresh-faced and seemingly swallowed up by the Camden market, Sundara Karma kicked off this afternoon’s marathon of up-and-coming bands with neon glazed indie-pop that’s been making waves in the indie scene for only a few months now. The band have two EPs under their belts and 18 years on earth, respectively.
Lead singer, Oscar Pollock, played the role of frontman expertly, sauntering about the stage in an army jacket and androgynous flare, if he wasn’t so magnetic it would be close to a parody of the expected and outworn mid-noughties frontman behaviour.
Pollock’s vocals are tinged with Americana, bringing the whole performance out of the lurch of atypical secondary-school band sound. Their strongest track and single ‘Flame’, warranted a mass reaction as the primarily under 18 crowd stubbed their half-smoked rollies on the ground and clambered upon each other’s shoulders - an energetic and obviously well-received Reading debut.
Baggier than their predecessors, Minnesota’s Hippo Campus rely more on harmony than they do propulsion. Frontman was born into the role, his shaggy exterior and classically handsome looks disarm the crowd excusing his overly-confident manoeuvrability onstage - it’d be easy to mock but he’s having so much fun with the performance, you have to admire it.
Hippo Campus’ tunes are solid, the vocal patterns often unpredictable and, in the end, it’s the early performances like this that will cement Hippo Campus as a Reading staple.
Spring King are emblematic of shambled lifestyles, sleeping on your friends sofas and having a great time doing it. They’ve become the forerunners for new UK garage-rock, their slacker aesthetic is just a deterrent from how obviously hard this quartet work on their craft, this became evident as drummer/vocalist Tarek Musa asks the crowd, “How’s it sounding?”, he genuinely wants to know.
The band emanate a nervous energy as if this Reading show is the last they’ll ever do, pulling out all the stops to create some memorable moments including bringing guitarist Pete Darlington’s Dad, Steve, onstage for some sensational saxophone accompaniment.
Embracing their inner surf-punks, the band’s last three tracks lasted a total of six minutes of blissful chaos - Spring King represent organised noise at it’s most proficient.
Emerging in a woozy haze, the crowd lose themselves to the site of the London quartet. Gengahr have been operating with a rarified inertia for a band of their stylings. Without even an album in the can, they supported Alt-J at the O2.
The success hasn't seemed to have gone to their heads as frontman Felix Bushe lets the crowd know, "this is our first Reading" - you wouldn't have guessed from their performance. Equal parts combustion and calm, Bushe's falsetto is the strongest in the game while guitarist John Victor's dynamic playing churns out searing solos the type Nick Zinner would be proud of.
Tracks like 'Heroine' and 'Fill My Gums With Blood' are the summer anthems we didn't realise he had and, while they sound endearingly soft on record, the live renditions are amped with a more confrontational tempo and high-octane instrumental breakdowns.
Reading 2015 has had some ground-breaking performances from the established pros likes Metallica and Mumford but you can't beat it's variety of up-and-coming acts. For everything Reading + Leeds, stick with Gigwise.
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