Dan Hillier
“If we stop playing and you clap thinking we’re done you’re probably wrong”; state Last Hyena, confirming their erratic tendencies even before striking a singular note. Of course, such clarifications are unnecessary tonight, especially with how half the room has probably seen the Bristolian math rock staples either on their most recent tour or somewhere else in the city over the years. But regardless, this set serves as a striking and rememberable introduction to the band for those few in attendance still initiated with their dive-bombing attitude towards musical progression.
A helter-skelter run through their rugged, angular, and at times galactic take on math and post rock, the trio’s set this evening is a crash course through material from recent LP debut How Soon Is Mars? complete with a smattering of content from their extended plays that’s delivered though a cracked DIY lens. Granted, the layer of polish and lacquer normally applied to their work may be partially missing tonight, but if anything, the grit in their sound this evening only allows their calculated riffs and dizzying time signatures to bore their way into the mind further. Tracks such as ‘Where’s Laika’ and recent set favourite ‘Doctorpus’ sound lacerating and focused with a sense of fluidity that still’s precise and concreted. The band may not be as physically animated and direct as they appeared at their own album launch show at The Louisiana just weeks back, but still, it’s pretty much clear that even those outside the math rock scene here tonight have a clear understanding on why Last Hyena have garnered such praise just this year alone.
With this evening being the first of two sold out shows in a belated celebration of the release of last year’s Royal Swan – a record now well over a year old – it’s difficult to overstate the sheer scale of bad luck Phoxjaw have faced promoting this record. Whereas the album dropped at peak of summer last year, a time where a premature end of the pandemic seemed viable, instead of ceaselessly touring the album as intended, Phoxjaw where forced to shelf and cancel all promotion plans as the country dived back into dystopia. Apart from a small handful of shows, it’s only been up until now that the band have finally been able to perform tracks from the record as originally intended. So with that in consideration, one would be forgiven in thinking the time away would have impacted the group’s enthusiasm. However, as the band forcefully plunge into ‘You Don’t Drink A Unicorn’s Blood’, it’s transparent Phoxjaw are revitalised and are striking with talons outdrawn.
With added instrumentation that fully animates the intricate textures found within their aforementioned debut, tonight Phoxjaw have never sounded so full bodied and energetic. Tearing and clawing their way through their headline set in a way that almost borderlines upon being berserking, something made outstandingly evident with how central riff from ‘Whale Whale Whale’ coils and constricts in this room, it seems this evening is more for the band than the audience itself. As the group charge through the likes of ‘Triple AAA’, ‘Infinite Badness’ and ‘Bats For Bleeding’ prior to treating the older fans to a particularity sneering rendition of 2019’s ‘Melt, You’re A Face Of Wax’ tonight appears to be the eruptive and explosive decanting of a whole pandemics worth of energy bottled up. Not only is a physical spectacle, with each member more fighting with their respective instrument as opposed to playing them per-say, it’s also an audible treat too. Every riff tears, every breakdown pummels and the very surrealist, theatrical and sardonic atmosphere that this band have become renowned engulfs this room effortlessly. Even in a venue this large, there’s a profound sense of claustrophobia summoned.
Despite this sonic assault though, Phoxjaw never once place a misstep performance wise. Even in their primal state the group are essentially impeccable and fully animate the subtle technicality found within their work.‘An Owl Is A Cat With Wings’, one of the most atmospheric and textured works from the band, sounds positively ghastly and vampiric tonight and in relation, the live debut of ‘Royal Swan’ itself sounds brilliantly imposing and towering despite being performed with reckless haste. Whilst Phoxjaw have always been a unit known and celebrated for their sense of possessed and self-destructive energy, tonight truly stands upon another level. It truly is a brilliant and unique amalgamation of charismatic idynoscenity, musical prowess and unbridled energy delivered in a manner that can only be provided by this unique act. As the band ring out their set by brining their combative and operatic fight to the masses themselves for ‘Triceratops’ and ‘Trophies In The Attic’, whilst many have stated Phoxjaw inhabit a ouveire of their own creation before, tonight truly shows that they really are an unparalleled entity.