Armed with two album’s worth of material and an extra live member, Splashh returned to the south coast to kick off their UK tour. Anyone who has seen the London-based group before will testify that their real dynamic lies within the live performances, so it’s to their credit that they've managed to capture all the energy and excitement of their shows within the expansive and experimental context of their new songs. It was an old favourite to kick proceedings off, though, with the lo-fi, sun-kissed feel of ‘Lemonade’ suiting the reflective early evening sky over the English Channel across the road, as frontman Sasha Carlson’s distinct vocals rode atop the wave of atmospheric guitars and riffs.

However, the new songs were the chief reason the band and the audience were in attendance. The sophomore effort has seen the band retain their crunchy guitars, fuzzy vocals and insistent rock beats, but Nicolas Vernhes has allowed them to reach far more raucous and experimental musical territory with his dreamy production. For the most part, this has transferred well into a live setting, with the playful hooks and whistles of ‘Waiting a Lifetime’ fitting in neatly as an instantaneous singalong track. ‘No. 1 Song in Hell’, meanwhile, and first single ‘Rings’ fast-paced ambient garage rock were a fitting showcase to the four-piece’s musicianship.

One negative point has to be the failure to replicate the placid groove of the melancholic ‘Gentle April’, which was not fully realised on stage. The beautiful essence as heard on the album was lost under a barrage of drum work. ‘See Through’ also had a similar issue but to a lesser extent, with certain parts not noticeable such as the intricate guitar bends or noteworthy synthetic clamours. The Anglo-Aussie band could be forgiven for this though, with Patterns’ unusual layout famously not ideal for guitar bands.

This was exemplified in the mesmerising ‘Look Down to Turn Away’, the first track of the night which barely featured a guitar. Waiting a Lifetime’s cornerstone is unlike anything Splashh have ever recorded before, with the epic freak-out beginning in ambient fashion with a barely audible spoken word and bass drum pulse. Halfway through, these sounds are suddenly droned out in cathartic fashion with distorted keyboards and uneven synthetic noises in what manifested into a compulsive live spectacle. “That’s the first time we’ve ever played that live, I think it went alright,” stated the modest Sasha Carlson. The brilliance of this trippy psych soundscape also leads to the question of why the four-piece didn’t persevere with the 2015 sound they adopted in the form of sporadic single releases ‘Colour It in’ and ‘Pure Blue’, or at least even retained them for their shows?

Comfort fan favourite ‘All I Wanna Do’ then gained one of the biggest reactions of the night, with the woozy shoegaze sound co-existing perfectly with the Peter Hook-esque bassline and gentle grunge. “This is our last song, but don’t worry, it goes on for ages,” said Toto Vivian as Splashh burst into their undoubted live magnum opus ‘Need It’. Elongated into an almost unrecognisable identity, the mid-section lasts a good ten minutes longer than on record as the band jammed a motoric-laden soundscape of krautrock-psych. Leaving the stage with the feedback ringing out from the speakers it’s clear Splashh still retain an ability to recreate their former fuzzy-psych glories but within a new more explorative incarnation.

Paul Hill

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