An evening with The Low Anthem is not a gig, but a holistic art piece which tests everything you think you know about music. In their sold out show, within a tightly packed Komedia, never before have I seen such day-to-day objects like beard trimmers, a typewriter and a novelty police siren invoke such a sense of sonic blissfulness.

Tonight’s support is And The Kids, who bring deeply hallucinatory melodies and an overall sound reminiscent of bands such as Black Honey, they are extremely tight and songs such as ‘Kick Rocks’ and ‘I Can’t Tell What The Time Is Telling Me’ are definitely more than strong enough to leave a positive lasting impression on this Brighton crowd. Vocalist Hannah Mohan’s stage presence is dominating and throughout the set she proceeds to play in an extremely cool manner, at times coming into the crowd or sitting down on stage. And The Kids are certainly an upcoming band who are worth keeping an eye on and definitely provide a memorable start to the evening.

As the lights darken once more, fog fills the room to the point where it could almost be considered a health hazard. The band’s recent release, Eyeland, features themes closely integrated with the Native American community and subtle messages such as ‘Cancel Columbus Day’ reflecting this can be dimly seen through the thick cloud. An atmospheric buildup proceeds as violinist and vocalist, Florence Wallis, enters a lone spotlight. She proceeds to tap into the typewriter and softly speak a poem over the sounds of rustling shells, clanking chains and bird whistles. The stage is already set for a phenomenal show.

In theory, nothing about this band should work. but it does. Numbers such as ‘the pepsi moon’ inflict a kaleidoscope of feeling, the heavenly melody alongside a far darker tone of lyrics fuse to create a song which borders on the theatrical. Tracks such as ‘ozzie’ however completely reject everything which just made its predecessor great, and instead border on thrashy guitars and screamed vocals which only deepen the plot of tonight’s musical experience. Every member plays with immense passion, however drummer and multi instrumentalist, Jeff Prystowsky, takes this to new heights. Every drum snare is as sharp as it possibly could be and each time the kick drum is used, it is struck with enough force that the entire kit leaps forward every now and again.

In the most fantastical way possible, every time you think you’re getting comfortable with what you are seeing, The Low Anthem pull something completely new out of the bag. Have you ever seen a singer shave mid-set? Well now I have. Genius has always bordered on the precipice of madness and frontman, Ben Miller, fits this description perfectly. Each time I reminisce on tonight’s show, it never fails to amaze me how Ben runs the beard trimmer along his guitar pickups, expecting a horrible sound of static feedback, I instinctively go to cover my ears. What we are instead greeted with, is such a serene tone which I have simply never heard before, a blissful high pitched whir fills the room. This is not the only example of such musical experimentation, each time a new miscellaneous object is used, a sound is created which suits the respective song so well it is as though they were designed for this specific musical purpose.

Tonight’s set features a number of tracks from across all of the band’s plethora of releases. Everything from the uncomfortably sombre ‘This God Damn House’ and its miraculous harmonica solos and harmonies are powerful enough to send shivers down the spine. Whilst encore track and fan favourite ‘Charlie Darwin’ is played in the most glorious way it could have been, the band bring together seven (yes I counted) microphones and bring out an old looking acoustic-only guitar. Ben’s angelically high vocals carry the song in an otherworldly manner, making each lyric feel immensely heartfelt and definitely offered a moment to the evening this audience will not be soon forgetting.

A Low Anthem show is hard to fully describe without having seen them for yourself. I will say however, that there have been only a handful of bands able to surprise me to the point where I have been left completely stunned and my mind completely blown, The Low Anthem are able to go above and beyond these levels. The sense of genius behind this band is impossible to pin down as they challenge everything that is regarded to be set in stone in musical terms and morph it into more of a soft sponge that should be used as no more than a formality. I will definitely be taking the first opportunity to see The Low Anthem again and would more than encourage everyone and anyone to do the same as this band undoubtedly take the spot of my band of the year thus far.
Ben Walker

Website: lowanthem.com
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