Dan Hillier
Tonight, the only way to aptly and concisely summarise the Aussie shoegazey death-pop duo VOWWS would be to compare them to the soundtrack of a haunted house themed level from a 2008 Wii game. Not that this is a critique nor insult; such comparisons should typically only be reserved for the best names of this band’s nature. But within this stiflingly humid warehouse packed to the steel rafters, VOWWS’ frigid and gosh darn spooky musings don’t quite get everyone under their spell. Or, at least entrap them as efficiently as these songs should, as for the most part, VOWWS are great at what they do.
With their sound carrying the sacrilegious danceability of Gost, the moody darkwave swagger of Cold Cave and ashen foreboding of the plethora of goth acts that have clearly inspired them, the band’s take on gothic death-pop is animated and complimentary to towards tonight’s headliners and their respective previous collaborators. But with the setting sun shining in from yawning back door and with the majority of the coven here in shorts, sunnies and crop-tops, well, this isn’t the environment for their spooky tunes; the contrast is just too vast for their music to be fully appreciated.
Granted, things do continue as the set continues. ‘Impulse Control’ raises a few eyebrows and smiles amongst the metal minded with its Author & Punisher-esque harshness and ‘Inside Out’ gets a few hips a’swinging in thanks to goth pop romanticism on par with The Cure. But in all, whilst the spooky sounds of VOWWS will no doubt be perfect for those new to these sounds come Halloween, here tonight they fail to thaw the summertime crowd within this hot room.
Even the more sparse cuts from last year’s Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete. entrap the attention the hodgepodge of people here, mostly in thanks to the alluring and often silhouetted showmanship of Chino; a fact not surpassing given how these songs showcase a more withdrawn side of this vocalist not typically present amongst the chaos of a standard Deftones set. In fact, to see the nu-metal pioneer turned electronic darling get into a groove like this harkens thoughts of the transformation Greg Puciato undertook upon his inceptive work with The Black Queen. And to see this for the first time in the UK in a room as cosily toasty as this truly feels special.
As the duo end the set with ‘Big Youth’ with Chino reliving El-P’s guest feature (well, some of it at least) prior to delivering a climax with ‘Telepathy’ and ‘Option’, this is first sweaty encounter that the population of Bristol are clearly keen to continue. Not only do the duo do the justice their enigmatic work demands, but they relive and make it flesh in a fashion that’s so remarkably pristine it’s almost cathartic. It may have taken ††† a decade to arrive, but it’s clear the South West are keen to skip the teasing that records bring in order to continue the action with Crosses as soon as possible.
