Dark romantic tunes…
The Slaughtered Lamb is a curious venue hived away in Clerkenwell which, as summer draws to a close, was home to a 4 band lineup combining an eclectic set of talents. Serving as a showcase for many of the acts on (or associated with) the Syndicol record label, the evening delivered a musical extravaganza that gravitated towards the darker end of the musical spectrum.
Leg Puppy have become a regular feature of London’s grassroots electronic live scene, although on this occasion the gods of trains and Google maps meant that TEC missed out on this particular appearance.
Living Dead Girl took on live duties as the second act of the evening – an act that TEC had looked at back in 2017 on the back of their captivating tune ‘Still Life’. The duo of classically trained Jessica English and Ventenner’s Jonno Lloyd have a knack for lush instrumentation. Here, in a live setting, their tunes take on a dark, bass-heavy quality. Despite some sound quality issues for the opening of the set (swiftly fixed by the on-hand sound engineer), there was a particular groove and sensuality to Living Dead Girl’s set. It also served as a showcase for new material on the horizon.
Meanwhile, Down From Above aimed for a more guitar-heavy performance, demonstrating Rob Ackerman’s axe-wielding talents. Meanwhile, Anastasia Resurrection’s vocals lent the songs a nicely contrasting angelic sheen.
Hailing from Liverpool, Moi Saint are perhaps one of the unsung talents of the grassroots electronic scene. The duo of Aisa and Chris have crafted some sumptuous synth-pop that manages to weave through a darkwave template but with euphoric qualities that elevate Moi Saint to an act worth taking note of.
Tunes such as ‘Lost In Time’ have a mesmerising quality that works a seductive magic on the listener. Elsewhere, the immersive soundscape of ‘Drown’ invites the audience to bath in a warm combination of subtle electronics and whispery vocal magic.
Moi Saint had collaborated with fellow darkwave enthusiasts Dicepeople on the superb Shallow Under Skin which arrived at the start of this year. It was a demonstration of the vocal chops that Moi Saint’s Aisa can bring to bear – and it’s a talent that doesn’t appear to diminish in a live setting. The growling broodiness of ‘Love You (To The Grave)’ has a power here that seeps through the audience,
Meanwhile, Aisa has an underspoken confidence on stage as she empathically triggers foot pedals or turns her attention to her compact Akai MPK keyboard/controller. A captivating series of abstract projections provide a contrast to the darkened front of stage while multicoloured lights show the fingers of Chris working deftly on his MicroKorg.
Pulling from a variety of influences, including Nine Inch Nails, Coil and Gary Numan, Moi Saint have crafted a sound that’s unmistakably their own. It’s also a reminder that the Syndicol label are assembling some of the brightest talents on the scene under their banner.
https://moisaint.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/moisaint/
https://twitter.com/MoiSaint
https://soundcloud.com/downfromabove-music
