Words and photos by Magda Wrzeszcz
Her Name Is Calla
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For a person who’s not really the biggest Christmas fan, like my humble self, a night like the one last Thursday was truly the best festive gift I could wish for. I felt a certain Christmas buzzing rush while getting there, since I started the night with turning up at the wrong venue - my manic journey to Sebright Arms can only be compared to the struggle you’d find yourself in while in the middle of Oxford Street on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, when you suddenly realised you forgot to get your Mum’s present. Finally there, I felt at home. It’s not news that London’s post rock scene is the most beautiful little bubble and it certainly seemed like a huge ‘friends and urban family’ event, with plenty of familiar faces gathered under one roof for the best of reasons - music.
Rumour Cubes kicked the night off in beautiful style, with ‘Albion’ (working title), a track from their upcoming, highly anticipated second album. In fact, the only song from their old repertoire was one of my favourites, ‘Rain On Titan’ - the whole set sounded fresh and polished to perfection, an absolute delight to listen to. If you followed their facebook updates from the recording studio, you’ll know that the band pick working titles which have absolutely no chance of becoming final, which means the titles I’m about to drop will definitely be subject to change, however both ‘Magic Faraway’ and ‘Seven Year Glitch’ were my absolute highlights, I’m completely in love with the beat they developed and I can’t wait to have it on a record. To stay in touch with the festive theme of the night (apparently there were mince pies - I clearly missed out on those, stuck on a bus between Dalston and Bethnal Green), Rumour Cubes delivered their rendition of ‘Silent Night’, with Joe on the bass proudly sporting a reindeer jumper. They finished off their set with ‘Nempnett Thrubwell’ (a yet another working title) and they left the crowd both in awe and hungry for more. They sounded the best I've heard them in a while - and I've seen them an embarrassing amount of times. If that night was anything to go by, their new album will most likely end up very high on Echoes and Dust Albums Of The Year 2014.
An amazing performance from one of the bands you've been following for years is one thing, a stunning performance from a band that performs very rarely is a completely different kind of a Christmas treat and that’s exactly what we got from Flies Are Spies From Hell. The opening ‘Fail Better’ is relatively new, which allows me to hope for some new material coming up, and the piano took me back to the best moments with their LP ‘Red Eyes Unravelling’. ‘Nerves Still Beating’ from their last year’s EP, is an absolute genius of a tune and I woke up with the melody firmly stuck in my head the following day. Rumour Cubes’ viola player Terry, who kept lurking at the back of the stage the whole time, joined Flies Are Spies on ‘Next Day’ - and became the star of the show (to the point when I was bitterly disappointed not to see him join Her Name Is Calla - not that their own string section is anything short of perfection). Before Flies finished with ‘Axe To The Root’, in front of a completely raving audience, they threw in what Chris Chapman mentioned in the set list as ‘Untitled New Song’, leaving the audience and myself wishing that their live performances will start being a bit less rare in 2014 - the fact that they’re not performing often makes every gig a huge treat to attend, however their charisma, the quality of their live shows and that feeling of pure joy they leave you with makes you want to see them over and over again. I hope we won’t have to wait too long!
After the energy in the room managed to miraculously cool down (and for a Christmas show, this was one hell of a steamy venue!), it was time for the main dish of the evening - Her Name Is Calla, who are making London Christmas gigs a bit of a tradition (they previously performed with Maybeshewill at their Christmas 2011 show at The Lexington, with yours truly faithfully in attendance). If the audience didn't have enough of new material from the previous bands, this show is one of Calla’s preview gigs of their upcoming new album ‘Navigator’. ‘Pour More Oil’, one of long time favourites, opened their set and immediately brought in the beautiful, apocalyptical mood. Tom Morris’ voice, filled with a sense of despair, paired with Sophie and Nicole on strings, creates a truly magnificent, yet claustrophobic sound. After ‘The Roots Run Deep’, a song that originally featured on one of Tom’s solo recordings, Her Name Is Calla served ‘Meridian Arc’ and ‘Navigator’, giving the audience a good taster of the new release. Nearing the end, ‘It Was Flood’ captivated the audience with Calla’s heartbreaking harmonies and the finesse with which they go from the heights of despair to the quietness of melancholy. They finished with ‘New England’ with the most epic and soul shattering finale and just like that - the night was complete.
What made the night perfect - apart from spotless organisation courtesy of Group Therapy - was the fact that all of the bands gave the audience something to look forward to in the new year - from fully announced Calla’s ‘Navigator’ due in Spring via Rumour Cubes working titles and album recording well under way, to Flies Are Spies’ yet unnamed tracks. Needless to say, festive season is not only about mince pies and Christmas jumpers - it’s also the imminent end of the year with all its ‘best of’ and ‘worst of’ lists. To me this gig summed up 2013. Out with the old, in with the new. Come on, 2014, we’re ready for you.
