Photo:
Duo The Delta Fiasco manage to combine sparse electronica with classic guitar melodies and shouty rock vocals. It’s an interesting mix and they manage to do ‘electro’ without sounding too trapped in 1982. That is hard to achieve in itself, but the sound is sometimes too sparse and lacking in rhythm to grab you. The Violets are next on. They look every bit an electro-trio, so it is surprising when they dive straight into jagged, angular punk. With a female lead vocal it’s reminiscent of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s or Siouxsie and the Banshees. Aided by a top drummer they have an energy which makes Gigwise want to jump around but most of the crowd appear to be stuck in a malaise and clearly tired their force weakens towards the end.
By the time White Rose Movement stroll on through a cold blue light the venue is filled with bleach-blonde electrogirls and jet-black electroboys, clearly are unconcerned with missing the England match. They seem to combine the forces of the two previous acts, bombarding the crowd with their thundering electro-rock. Not short of confidence and perturbed at the lack of enthusiasm from the audience the front man bates the crowd but with little effect. Hard to label (awkward bastards) like Delta Fiasco they make machine noise which manages not to be too retro and the sheer force of their sound demands attention. Building into an intense, relentless soundscape it goes a long way to warming up the cold expanse of the Barfly theatre. But amongst their sound there are sadly few stand out moments.
