Brighton’s live music scene is a very impressive beast, indeed. Every night there’s multiple places to go, people to see and fun to be had. However, take guitars away and the options become more and more limited. This made Irish producer Seamus Malliagh’s, also known as Iglooghost, gig at Green Door Store even more of a special proposition. It was sold-out, people looked absolutely buzzing to be there, and Iglooghost provided a very unique show.

Throughout the night, and between sets, B2B Complex Habitat Systems DJ’d, subsequently turning Green Door Store into a raving club. Initially this was jarring, mainly due to the time of the event, but the crowd grew into it as the night wore on. On support duties for the night was Iglooghost’s close, personal friend Kai Whiston, who creates the same frenzied beats for a similar frenetic, delirious sound. Having just recently signed to Big Dada records, he describes himself as a bored nerdy kid but, on stage, he’s a completely different overture. There’s a waggishness here that makes his style of music exotic and irreverent, with an experimental essence. He’s certainly rough around the edges, but his playfulness evolves into the immensely preposterous.

Of course, Iglooghost is all of these things and more. Essentially, his live show is structured around audio/visual onslaughts on both the eyes and ears. His music is diligently maximised: creating hugely ambitious landscapes and modifying them into a dynamic barrage of noises. Take ‘Super Ink Burst’, for example. It assumes the framework of a profusion of attacks to the body, seldom letting up. It’s built cleverly on agitated bursts of saxophone, along with a relentlessly, glittery synth that further assembles Iglooghost’s almost anime world.

The audio/visuals scattering across the screen behind him, especially made for this tour, go even further to immerse the audience into the world of Iglooghost. Virtually (pun intended) an eccentric phantasmagoria, it features a simulated universe created by the musician, with googly-eyed characters – that look like they’ve stepped straight out of Adventure Time – and increasingly mesmerising colours. The visuals behind are a stroke of genius by the artist, as they not only compliment the music, but they build on them and go some way into explaining the derangements of sounds you’re hearing.

Furthermore, Iglooghost’s movement on stage is bewitching and fascinating. It’s as if he’s been captured by his own music and is being sucked into the world he’s created. Throughout his set, with his hat constantly covering his eyes, he doesn’t stop moving, constantly body-popping, pumping his fists and stomping his feet as if he is, in fact, playing a character in his own universe. There is so much going on at all times, it’s quite perplexing choosing exactly where to look.

Fundamentally, it’s a show about invention and experimentation. Throughout, the audience is watching Iglooghost permeating his outlandish electronic music with his candied, cartoon-like world-building, and vice-versa. For a musician of his age, it’s mightily impressive. From the madcap music, to the insane visuals, to his constant movement, it’s a treat for the eyes, the ears and the soul.

Liam McMillen

Facebook: facebook.com/iglooghost
Twitter: twitter.com/IGLOOGHOST