THE SHADOW EXPLODED

Liquorice River claim to take you ‘on an aural journey fuelled by bitter nostalgia and sardonic sentimentality, stopping off along the way at junctions of 60’s psychedelia, glam, dub, folk, indiepop, krautrock and interludes of both a cinematic and electronic nature’ and tonight, their debut outing as a live act, they do not fail to live up to this.

Liquorice River was formed by longstanding friends and musical accomplices Ross Liddle (vocals, synth) and Alex Avery (guitars), formerly part of North London post-punk-gaze band The Firm. Their lineup was completed with the addition of another former band mate Yameen Khan (The Firm, English Flaws) on drums and Chokis Costa (The Tambourines) on bass, in late 2013.

Squeezed onto the small stage at The Stag's Head, the band begin their live career with Fallen Star, which starts as it means to go on - brash guitars, a pumping rhythm section, proper glam chorus, and Liddle’s trademark no holds barred, often bitter, storytelling lyrics. As the set continues it’s clear Liddle is on excellent form. This seems like more than a gig to him - this is his natural habitat. Vocally somewhere between Brett Anderson and Peter Murphy, he is in absolute control and gives his all to every second of the set. Tonight he has charm and confidence by the bucketload and you are drawn in by it. The whole band seem to be unaffected by usual first-gig nerves and are playing with passion and feel.

Set highlight Stagehand Job shows off Alex Avery's sublime guitar work - he could well be the illegitimate son of Butler, Marr or Harrison - or maybe a bizarre test tube creation using the DNA of all three. This song truly is a thing of beauty and Avery's mix of lush chords and perfect arpeggios the icing on the cake. Musically it's hard to pin them down - the influences seem to change throughout songs, one minute The Smiths, Suede, a hint of Mansun even, then moments of quite epic psychedelia not unlike that of peers Toy or Younghusband.   

You wouldn't think for a million years that this was their live debut, and it must be down to their collated experience. This I believe is also the difference in Liquorice River - the premise is well thought-out, the songs sound and feel like a lot of time has been taken to make them interesting and stand out in their own way; something the very decent-sized crowd are clearly appreciative of with their hoots and applause after every song. This band is new but not wet behind the ears. They've done the London circuit and know how to punch it in the face instead of tickle it.

There is of course room for improvement, a few more gigs under their belt will do them the world of good as a band. It's been a fantastic performance but they're yet to fully gel. When this happens there's no telling how far the river will run.

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Setlist