Gig Review: Roscoe Roscoe and Unlucky At SJQ

28 Apr

Roscoe Roscoe and Unlucky pack out SLQ and turn it into a rebellious defiance and celebration of new music.

Roscoe Roscoe are a band that I’ll show up for time and time again; their shoegaze dream-pop has earned them support slots supporting BDRMM at The 100 Club and turned a good night into a great one multiple times. They do so again here: with more members than seemingly stage capacity, it’s a feat to get everyone in the five-piece East London outfit downstairs in SLQ, a small venue that’s just off Dalston High Street and seems tailor made for locals in the face of a week of train strikes. They’re psychedelic – emerging from the capital with shoegaze and post rock influences that add to their unique front sound. They draw on influences of AIR and Pet Sounds era Beach Boys for their twang – giving a run out for tracks that move and flow effortlessly. It’s mainly instrumental work here – the effortless, well-choreographed band makes usage of the strong backing lighting to give a sense of ambience.

Before You Die I really like and the reference to Serge Gainsbourg’s instrumental, from the movie Cannabis, which he scored and starred in – and Charlie Reed Clarke’s guitar and lead vocals, deployed sparingly but with great effect, have this kind of soothing quality that really fills up the room. It belongs listened to on a quiet late autumn beach somewhere in the West Country – left to play and envelop the mood as you relax in the not-packed but calm, stress-free afternoon. They’re playing in their local backyard - Hackney; a hometown show, and the prog fever that Roscoe Roscoe bring in is well trodden, mixing in say, Slowdive and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard energy that creates a fever dream that you can’t help but enjoy. They’ve earned praise by Radio X’s John Kennedy as a “British answer to Tame Impala” but comparisons do them a disservice: they’re a force of nature all on their own.

The headliners may be Unlucky; but it’s very much not an unlucky night – they are aware, of course, of their name and highlight that on the day. SLQ is the perfect atmosphere to catch both of these bands and to the credit of the train strikes, it looks packed. With scratchy guitars and frantic bubbling energy they have the music producer Patric James Fitzroy as their frontman: responsible for the likes of PVA and Sorry off the ground.

The music envelops and helps create a sense of belonging amidst an existentialist crisis – combatting religious/societal hypocrisy through music and taking a stand. You can see their influences everywhere: the brutalist Fugazi-tinted vision, mixed with heavy bass synth to really fill up the room. No God is a powerhouse of a tune: “buried it deep, here where I’m not awake, buried where you won’t find it, wherever it aches”; and this showcase of the new single leads to a triumphant statement of intent for the band, that feels decidedly experimental in nature and creates a shoegazey atmosphere that is hard to pull away from; drifting at times mid set into Jesus and the Mary Chain, though thankfully more reliable.

Throughout the night you can’t help but be seduced by their music that worms its way into your head and refuses to let go – “can you believe; hell ain’t fun / if you ain’t far / if you would leap / yeah you’d fall so hard” the lyrics ask the audience to put the money where your mouth is and back up words with actions of their own – and the slow realisation that there’s no god – stripped down music that feels incredibly unfiltered to its very bones.