Live Review
Frett + Morning Smoke
The Workshop, London
June 5 2014
Words: Linn Branson
If ever there was a joint bill guaranteed to make anyone who had passed the 3-0 in age feel old, this was one: Morning Smoke, hardly out of their teens; Frett barely scraping into the twentysomething group. And both displaying quality far beyond their young years.
Young Brighton quartet Morning Smoke first came to our attention early last summer. Formed by Max Wright and Milo McNulty, and joined by bassist Chris Shaw and Isaac Ide on drums, think My Bloody Valentine meets Joy Division meets Jesus and Mary Chain in a wall of noise, but mixed in with classic pop tunes, and you possibly have an inkling of whst they're about. Having finally released their long-awaited EP, 'In Euphoria', last month, this was a chance to hear tracks put together in a live set.
Vocalist McNulty strides with effect over the likes of 'Tangerine' with its power riffs pinned by a big drum effect; the slow and effective intro'd ‘Melancholy’, and ‘Blue Ribbons’, which serves to highlight their dark intensity of rhythm. Although appearing at times still not all that at ease in front of a live crowd, both he and the rest of the band display enough hair-whipping - along with Wright also whipping up some fine guitar moments as he hops amidst the leads in his socks, sans shoes - and some blistering chords, particularly on closer 'Steffani I' along with some twanging notes and white noise feedback end, to set them down as a band with much promise.
Frett, the East Anglian duo of Simon Lucas-Hughes and Elliott Buckle, have also just released a new work, in this case their ‘EP3′, and despite having been together for little more than a year, their intriguing sound has garnered them airplay on Radio 1, XFM, and BBC Radio 6 Music, and praise for the delicate coupling of Lucas-Hughes' soulful falsetto vocal and silky synths. As they kick off with 'Silent Alarm', the simple structure of a Korg, an Apple Mac and a few pads manages to achieve such a blissful result with it's choppy electronic beats. EP lead single, the atmospheric 'Porcelain', builds over three-
minutes-plus before reaching dynamic ending, and is recreated live almost as perfectly as in the studio version.
They are joined on stage by vocalist Clarice Parrott to add a female harmony to several tracks, including 'Black and White' where she weaves her way around its lines of, It's waiting for me to leave a word on
the side/Just let me burn blue and swim around in your mind", the languid 'Milk', and new track 'Drop The Game' which Lucas-Hughes says they are still working on "and practising in the car" on the way to the venue earlier. The lyrics to their songs are often ambiguous, and in the case of their closing number 'Door Open, Door Closed' from their second EP - "You walk in/You're frozen/Your eyes smash/Your teeth break/And your teeth break" - sit oddly against what is a song that comes over in such a way over the course of its five minutes to tug at the heartstrings. If Frett could look at augmenting their captivating set with some well-placed lighting effects and back-screen visuals to enhance their songs, then there could be no stopping them.
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