The Fiction Aisle have become one of my favourite acts of 2015. When hearing ‘Blue’ on BBC 6 Music off the same named EP, I instantly became obsessed with this jazz tinged orchestrated lounge music and went on the hunt to find out more of their exquisite unique sound.
Thankfully, The Fiction Aisle are one of Brighton’s own, being the latest project by the Mercury Prize nominated Electric Soft Parade frontman Thomas White who has brought together a fine assortment of Brighton’s best musicians to create a truly glorious body of sound. On Thomas’s own label imprint, Chord Orchard, The Fiction Aisle released their debut album Heart Map Rubric on the day of this show which was being celebrated in the wonderful Unitarian Church.
 
As I arrived, Capt.Lovelace had just started playing her arresting heartfelt folk. The French born Beatrice Wood, performing solo, arrived in Brighton at the beginning of 2015 and all those who have already seen her play will know just how spectacular her songs are. Apologies for the cliché but with the audience all sat at tables spread around the church, you could have been transported to a dimly lit café in bohemian Paris, for a late night glass of vin rouge, listening to songs of love, solace and adventure. It was a captivating and engrossing set made of calming melodies and Beatrice’s beautifully quaint vocals which, in my eyes, couldn’t have been a better beginning to the night’s entertainment.
 
With huge beckoning roars from an excited crowd, the nine-piece Fiction Aisle sprawled across the length of the room and went straight into the first song off the album ‘Blue’. Before the show had even started I had worries about sound getting swallowed by the high ceilings and regurgitated as an echoing mess around the church, however, you could still hear each component that added to the impressive wall of sound. Tom’s silky vocals sat atop of the bellowing sound in the roof of the church being sometimes difficult for us to hear at ground level, although as a couple of songs passed this effect was soon forgotten. With the set following the order of Heart Map Rubric (minus ‘Major Seventh’), we were treated to a triumphant ending coda in ‘Sleep Tight’ where a supreme culmination of trumpet and guitars bewitched a captivated crowd. Played live, the songs gained a new space – where an eerie psychedelic interlude would set up the misty trepidation of ‘Love Come Save Me’ or additional rhythms and guitar solos would add a new colour to the musical canvas.
 
One of the highlights of Heart Map Rubric is hearing the many layers that create The Fiction Aisle’s enthralling sound and seeing it played live really amplified the experience – being able to pick out each instrument, and hear how the music’s natural emotion comes out in each song. At times the sound was gargantuan – ranging from an intense wondrous racket, to the more refined heartfelt bliss. I left the venue feeling uplifted, as if I had been cleansed after a gentle gauntlet of euphoric sound. Having already built themselves a big reputation for incredible live shows in Brighton, I strongly recommend you check The Fiction Aisle out for yourself.
Iain Lauder