The Horrors // Waterfront // Norwich

January 24th, 2012

Tonights show at Norwich’s Waterfront has been a few months in the making. Originally scheduled for October 2011, the gig was cancelled in favour of a high profile slot on Jools Holland’s ‘Later…’ and moved to December, only to be cancelled again in favour of frontman Faris Badwan’s vocal cords, it finally found a more concrete position on 22nd January 2012, so expectation is high.

Change has been a big part of the Horrors canon of late, with the band seemingly eschewing the garagey (and arguably better, in this reviewer’s eyes anyway) noise-chaos of the goth-punk roots of 2007’s Strange House, for the Krautrock-enthused soundscapes of 2009s Primary Colours, and the trippy dance leanings of latest release, Skying. Also, the original support act Toy have now been replaced by The History Of Apple Pie, a welcome surprise for fans of the band’s Radiohead meets lo-fi indie-pop shtick, although the set is marred slightly by poor sound and the lead singer’s distinct lack of enthusiasm. Tenuous, I know, but it’s a ‘change’ all the same…

Indeed, there’s not the banshee wailing or hanging from the Waterfront rafters like some kind of demonic bat that made The Horrors first appearance at the Norwich venue so memorable (although, at least Faris does remember it, quipping mid-gig “I see they’ve removed the bar that used to be on the ceiling there”), and the set is predictably void of any material from the first album. Instead, where there was once relentless strobe lighting and pandemonium, there is now soft illumination, and tunes to match.

Yes, The Horrors may be an entirely different beast to the band they were four or five years ago, but while they had their fun with their debut album, it is good to see the band expressing their true musicianship with such confidence and taking an entirely more mature attitude to their craft, winning the hearts and minds of fans and critics alike.

Live, the music of those latest two albums is even more formidable, and really finds its footing in the gig setting. Josh Hayward still rips at his guitar in a flailing mass of wild hair, pealing all manner of genuinely indescribable sounds from his guitar by way of an extensive board of custom pedals on tracks like Mirror’s Image and Three Decades, which swells with organ underneath its accelerated drumbeat. The band opt to close the main section of their set with arguably the two most famous tracks from their latest two albums, the steady motorik of Sea Within A Sea, and the ethereal wash of Still Life, Faris’ vocals sounding masterfully ghostly and atmospheric on each, as he trades in the windmilling limbs of old for a more considered rhythmic swagger.

They return to the stage for an extended encore and launch into highlight of the evening, the fuzz-bass ridden Who Can Say, and a few more choice cuts from the last two albums, before slinking off into the darkness to presumably plan just what it is they’re going to do next.

Whatever comes next for The Horrors, you can sure it will be surprising and brilliant in equal measure.

Words > Alex Nelson.
For more of Alex Nelsons musical musings, visit: DISCHORD MUSIC

Tags: Faris Badwan, Josh Hayward, Mirrors Image, Primary Colours, Sea Within A Sea, Skying, Strange House, The History Of Apple Pie, the Horrors, Three Decades