(((O))) Live: A.A. WILLIAMS • SPOTLIGHTS – G2, GLASGOW

It can be interesting to watch things come full circle. Back in 2019, Russian Circles toured the UK and took out a then largely unknown act called A.A. Williams, opening with a stop at G2, the intimate sister venue of the (in)famous Glasgow Garage. It was only A.A. Williams’ eighth show yet they already showed a command of the stage, excelling in an environment where there was nowhere for crowd or artist to hide; everything was laid bare, the strength and fragility of their music ideally suited for rooms like that one. Seven years later, they have returned to the same stage but now as headliners (and rightly so) with plenty of material and experience under their belts. So how will it pan out this time?

There’s a bit of a wait to find out, but Spotlights fill that time with so much intensity and volume that it’s like being transported to the interior of an impossibly cool washing machine. Since it turns ten this year, they are performing their debut EP Tidals in full, but in another case of experience being everything the material has been moulded into something leaner and more muscular in all the right ways. There are still hints of hazy gloss to ‘Walls’ but it strains under the sheer weight of Mario Quintero’s guitar, while Sarah Quintero and Chris Enriquez lock into one colossal groove after another, a near-tectonic, rhythmic powerhouse.

 ‘The Grower’ allows the trio to flex their range a little more, its lush final moments taking on a kind of intimate intricacy as Mario and Sarah trade soft vocal exchanges, while ‘To The End’ seems content to simply bury the stage in wave after wave of distorted chaos. It’s moments like this when the material really feels transformed – murkier and more content to swell and grow in the shadows than to let the light in. Enriquez’ drumming becomes ever more powerful, still immaculately timed but with a primal urgency that more than rivals the power his stringed co-conspirators radiate. There is plenty of beauty to be found in these songs, but for anyone who came here expecting a chill evening, their ringing ears are testament that Spotlights are capable of so much more.

In a sense, the same could be said of A.A. Williams. While the darkness has a way of shrouding her music, on record it feels hushed and claustrophobic, like some gothic rain-swept mansion left to rot. In contrast, much of tonight’s set is delivered with power and precision, with latest single ‘Like A Shadow’ going hard on all fronts as Williams’ smoky voice blends seamlessly into the fuzz-soaked riffs, and Wayne Proctor rattles his kit with assured energy. At quieter moments his heavy-handedness does feel a little at odds with Williams and the similarly-restrained Matthew Daly, yet it isn’t long before the trio lock into a tight rhythm.

Those quieter passages make up much of the middle of Williams’ set: a trio of cuts from debut Forever Blue broken up only by the equally emotive ‘Control’ marking a return to her roots. ‘Love and Pain’ starts off as a chilling slice of Americana, woozy and dreamlike right up until it explodes into starbursts of shimmering post-rock; ‘Glimmer’ is genuinely haunting, the room reduced to silence as Williams and Daly work their subtle magic, and ‘Dirt’ provides maybe the night’s tenderest offering, a bittersweet ballad that surely finds some resonance amongst the crowd who sway and reel with eyes closed.

 Much of the performance’s second half rests on songs from 2022’s As The Moon Rests, with the likes of ‘Pristine’ delivering a euphoric rush that feels like ‘Dirt’s shadow, a dark counterpart to its forebear’s breathless intimacy. ‘For Nothing’ starts off innocuously enough, but when it reaches its climax it’s deafening in a way that wouldn’t have seemed possible earlier tonight, and ‘Evaporate’ provides an inimitable send-off, catchy and devastating in equal measure.

Looking back on their Glasgow debut, all the signs were there that A.A. Williams had the potential to dominate a room, but actually witnessing this come to fruition is a sheer delight.