After recently releasing their brand new EP ‘Display’ – Phoria are now my favourite band of 2014. Having seen them play during The Great Escape Festival at St. Mary’s Church I was wondering whether it would be possible for them to top their performance due to the magical nature the venue as well as the beauty of the surroundings, natural reverb and acoustics which made the perfect setting for Phoria’s musical soundscapes. However, Phoria seem able to grace any stage and perform as confidently and effortlessly as they would in their own living room.

The beauty of hosting their EP Launch at the Haunt was the possibility of visual accompaniments to enhance the Phoria perfomance. Accordingly Phoria presented new abstract visuals for each track which really added to the live performance and atmosphere of the night without taking away too much from what Phoria are all about – the music.

I was also looking forward to seeing Phoria play with a string quartet as a lot of their songs entwine classical, symphonic sounds along with the heavier electronics. The live strings (three violinists and a cellist) really brought another dimension to the show, emphasising the intricate and complex writing of Phoria’s tracks. Although I would have like the string section to have been a little more involved in the overall performance aspect of the gig, I also realise sharing the stage with any of the Phoria band members would be difficult to compete. The clear passion behind each and every band member is continually evident, driving their performance and is what makes Phoria a truly excellent live band.
 
Unfortunately though, due to the odd shaped stage at the Haunt (which we all know and love), both bassist and keyboard player were almost pushed completely into the shadows which consequently divided up the usual tight-knit unity Phoria share on stage. Sadly, I felt it lost a bit of the magic when watching them on a much smaller and more intimate stage. This was of course no fault of Phoria’s and the quality of the music was certainly not compromised.

Playing all the tracks from their EP (to much delight of the packed out Haunt), their live performance of 'Efforttobreath' had to be my highlight of the evening and evidently the audience thought so as well with electrifying applause. However  Phoria decided to finish their set with their track ‘Posture’ and whilst it’s a corker of a tune and indeed worked well with an incredibly epic ending – I would have preferred to have ended the night with one of the tracks from their new EP as due to time restrictions, Phoria weren’t able to do an encore, which was a shame as it was clear that the whole crowd could have carried on being seduced by Phoria’s dreamy soundscapes till the early hours of the morning!

Their ‘Display’ EP has to be my one of my favourite release of the year and BrightonsFinest highly recommend you both get yourself a copy and get down to their next gig as you wont be disappointed!

BrightonsFinest.com Top Tip:  There’s a beautiful secret bonus track on the vinyl edition of the EP which we highly recommend you check out!

Website: phoriamusic.com
Facebook: facebook.com/phoriamusic
Twitter: twitter.com/phoria