Visually the ‘Sound – who are a Scandinavian collective boasting a considerable number of floating, interchangeable members – fitted the space-rock blueprint like a glove.
Visually the ‘Sound – who are a Scandinavian collective boasting a considerable number of floating, interchangeable members – fitted the space-rock blueprint like a glove.
Øresund Sound – SUB071, Leiden 17/09/09
Lord above, improvised space rock on a Thursday night? Is the world built for this?
Things schedule-wise were running a good hour late at SUB 071, due to a motorway pile-up from hell but no matter, we were promised a two hour show and that’s what Øresund Sound were determined to deliver. Actually, given the monumental rush to set up and put on a show despite all that had happened to them, the night could be seen as a quiet triumph for the band. And us punters could further explore the SUB complex beer in hand, and admire the decorations added to the large upstairs bar and Veggie kitchen; (fairy lights and a tree branch, if you must know)…
Visually the ‘Sound – who are a Scandinavian collective boasting a considerable number of floating, interchangeable members – fitted the space-rock blueprint like a glove. A mixture of ‘heavy’ beards, ponytails and naked torsos prevailed, with only the second guitarist – who looked like he was normally in a lad-rock band – adding some visual variety. And when was the last time you saw a twin (vintage) keyboard attack this side of a mid 70’s Faust gig?
Now for the music. As stated earlier, the crowd had filled the venue in expectation of a two hour blitz of improvised Space-rock. Now I wonder sometimes about the term improvised, as I’m pretty sure there has to be some common starting point, or stopping points where a band can take stock: such as agreement on a riff, a mood, a re-working of an old or well trusted idea. Not that I’m in any way complaining, but it was noticeable that the tracks were much more fluid as things progressed, both within tracks and over the gig in general; at times things got close to the extremely spacey Cosmic Jokers territory, with one or two guitar breaks clearly leaning towards something Manuel Göttsching would have done on 7 Up or Tarot. One track stood out, a hypnotic quasi – dub-step bass line of considerable force drove a beautifully loose reflection, replete with Gong/Hawkwind synths (actually they were everywhere), and complimented by soft guitar textures.
Sadly, this correspondent had a 5am start the following day, and had to leave around 80 minutes in; from what I am told things got extremely mental after that (maybe they were just waiting for me to leave)….
No matter, another top night out at SUB and a band that you should be checking this lot out live as soon as you can.
Words: Richard Foster