After we were blew away by their début single, astonished by the follow up and then the ear-gasm that was their EP, I just had to see this band again! We previously caught them at Underground Festival in Gloucester, but due to missing most of their set I didn't think it worth while writing a review up. Still, here I am, with a review on their performance from The Nest in Dalston (London).
They opened their set with 'Wolf', this track was produced by Yannis from Foals and you can clearly see the influence he has had even when the track is being played live, a slow jam starting off the crowd with huge synths, dark vocals and bass laden samples. The crowd were now up for it, and when they played the first few notes of 'Bruxism' the place erupted! One of their oldest songs then followed - 'Take This Night' - which is still as great as it ever has been! Another track of the highly acclaimed EP was 'Sleepwalks' which with it's upbeat rhythms was pleasantly revived by the crowd, at this time it ticked midnight, but hey, Trophy Wife up close and live at that time of day is amazing, right! Two new track were played back to back, they were 'Discovery' and 'Heavy Touch', I can't remember much, but they must be for the impending album or as a new single? Still, I loved them none the less. 'Microlite' and 'Canopy Shade' finished off the set, I must say, I was blown away by their skill on stage, commanding vocals and the hot and sweaty conditions, great show guys, see you soon!
Trophy Wife played: Wolf Bruxism Take This Night Sleepwalks Discovery Heavy Touch Microlite Canopy Shade
The brand new Trophy Wife five-track EP 'Bruxism' is released on the 17th October via Blessing Force (although I got told it got pushed back to the 31st). With the 'Bruxism EP' Trophy Wife have taken an experimental approach by using a different producer for each track. They travelled to Berlin to work with acclaimed electronic artist/producer Ewan Pearson, then collaborated with Oxford acolytes Yannis from Foals and Andrew Halford.
Canopy Shade: This is the opening track from the EP and it bounces all over the place with lots of great riffs, samples and drum sections. It does delve into the Dub-Step sub-genre towards the latter half of the song, but that's fine, getting more of a demographic right? Correct, I can see this being remixed and ending up to be a proper club track. Trophy Wife have laid down such a solid foundation for the rest of the EP. Out of 10: 8.5/10
Bruxism: The title track here, so big expectations. This is the James Yuill produced track, and you can hear it clearly here with such a clean production. My favourite bit about this track is the sample pads/synths combining for some weird and wonderful effects, accompanying that with the guitar that seems to be in tandem with the vocals of Jody creating a wonderful verse. The whole song slowly stops and you are left breath-taken by the sheer beauty of the song. Out of 10: 9/10
Seven Wakes: From the off it sounds like this has been either recorded on tapes, or ripped from a vinyl, you can hear crackling in the background. A slow start here, but the vocals of Jody are draped all over the backing vocals and synths. A darker track from the Oxford 3-piece. The track picks up body towards the end of the song, it's fabulous, this is why Trophy Wife are going to take 2012 by the horns! Out of 10: 8.5/10
Sleepwalks: The shortest track on the EP and it goes back to the Trophy Wife their fans know and love, fast energetic 'Ambtionless-Office-Disco'. Quick bursts of guitar, smooth samples and synths all coated with the wonderful vocals. The chorus is what this song is all about, this is one of my favourite tracks by this band. You can tell the track has Ewan Pearson producing it can't you, it oozes danceability. And when they play this track live it's on another level. Wonderful stuff! Out of 10: 9.5/10
Wolf: The track that has had all of the Foals-convert-fans dribbling over is here, a slightly minimalistic take to their music. This track seems to be a lot darker than every other track Trophy Wife have put out there, I don't mind it as they are trying to find their own little niche to work with. One thing is for sure the production is quite good considering I wasn't expecting Yannis to be this good at doing it! I am now really looking forward to my 10" dropping in the post! Out of 10: 8/10
