Tangled Thoughts of Leaving/Naik
The Bakery
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Eleventh He Reaches London gathered a fine selection of purveyors of alternative sounds at The Bakery to launch their new album Bãnhãs. The product of four years of creative labour, including time spent recording in Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving keyboardist Ron Pollard’s Perth studio, Bãnhãs is not so much a departure from their 2012 release, The Good Fight For Harmony, but rather a continuance and maturation of their unique sound.
Bursting into the sonic spectrum to begin the evening was expressive polymath Naik aka Sam Price. If you have not yet witnessed him live, follow the gaze of the awed onlookers and get amongst it. With a versatile approach to performance, incorporating electric guitar and a vast array of triggered samples, this master craftsman of modern beat driven music was joined by Brody Simpson on the drums to kick off the night. With a hurling of the drumsticks and brief farewell, Naik was gone.
The hugely eclectic Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving, who are certainly not afraid to make you feel a little uncomfortable, took their places on The Bakery stage. TTOL are capable of coming together to create moments of absolute elegance. They are everything that they advertise themselves to be; part thoughtful, part cinematic and part insanity. Walls of controlled feedback in place of vocals, paired with a high physical energy which was at no point matched by the audience, made for a somewhat chaotic set. Having said that, fans of this boundless feast for the masochistic ear would have gotten exactly what they were looking for.
At Eleven They Reached The Stage and introduced themselves with heavy, clean and grim chords accompanied by strong growling vocals. Each progression seemed perfectly composed to inspire a deep emotive response which, for a large part of the set, was a beautiful dread. For a relatively meek looking group of gentlemen, the pain being expressed seemed raw and real; a genuine intention which was extraordinarily refreshing considering the global music industry landscape. Between the moments of intensity, a melodic and heartfelt tone passed the lips of the lead singer creating spine-tingling contrast and telling a dynamic story of betrayal and a search for redemption. The band respond to each other with pinpoint accuracy, and a sequence of dual guitar harmonies were used to precise energetic effect.
Eleventh He Reaches London are capable of great versatility within their interesting, post-hardcore niche and having recently completed a tour of Australia and Europe, it seems their sound has found a home in the hearts of heavy music lovers far and wide. Their ability to communicate and articulate the often jagged nature of the human experience into an auditory collage is an art possessed by few. The very title of their album, originating from Old English, translates as ‘bone house’, a fitting title for the music that unabashedly dissects the darker aspects of humanity.
_ JAMES HANLON
