Mt Wolf, Hare and Hounds, Birmingham - review
It’s been a while since we saw electro group Mt Wolf. So long, in fact, that departed frontwoman Kate Sproule was still leading their stage presence.
After a hiatus the three likely lads jumped back in. Last year they crafted their first full-length album. And now it is time to tour it.
But how would they sound live with a new vocal direction provided by Sebastian ‘Bassi' Fox and a louder, fuller sound?
Callum Pickard and The Third Look provided the support, drifting airily in with their brand of dreamy, breezy folk rock that started to feel a little sheepish and toothless after a few songs.
Callum's pinched, squeezed voice sounded a bit like Black Francis or Billy Corgan. But after the percussion started thumping in the odd track to give a song more life, we reverted to type.
Mt Wolf, however, had a few tricks up their sleeve to keep us guessing and engrossed. To answer that earlier question, they sounded fab.
We were a little delayed off the bat, poor Bassi was getting electrical shocks from a faulty mic. But when that cleared up, they pushed their electric sound out from the stage instead.
Opener was single Hamburg and it was full of emotive crescendo. It sounded very Editors-like with a thumping finale provided by drummer Al Mitchell.
Bassi's vocals were fantastic throughout. He soared with conviction, sounding like if Foals' Yannis Philippakis jumped ship and joined The Slow Show.
His deep, guttural, tribal sounds in Bohemia worked too - this is one haunting swamp of sound.
But the highlight of the set had to be the rousing rendition of Starliner II. It had a bit of attitude and swagger like Kasabian's Ovary Stripe, throwing its weight around. The switch between pace and emphasis benefitted it greatly as it rumbled towards its overly-satisfying conclusion.
The great instrumentals and high vocals in Electric showed how much fun the band have with each other.
And as the closing refrains of their track Red declared - 'I'm going away for a long time', Bassi nipped in with 'but we'll be back soon’ to a few chuckles. We thought 'thank goodness' - we wouldn’t want to lose this group again.
This show provided a midweek boost to music lovers and left the slightly sparse crowd – around 40 to 50 – happily content.
