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Battles are one of the more exciting bands in recent years. A New York band who came to great prominence with their first album Mirrored – touring with Gnarls Barkley and appearing on Jools Holland – revealed them to be one of the exciting new talents. However, in the four years since they broke out of their straightjacket, their mercurial frontman Tyondai Braxton, he of the crazy vocals on smash hit 'Atlas', has left. So how would the three remaining members cope in his absence? Battles are a band that have a lot of technology and like to use all of it. After warm up band Thank You had finished – a very interesting band whose instrumental interplay I have no doubt we will be hearing more of – literally frying out an amplifier, there was a lengthy set up with more sound and vocal equipment than most bands will ever contemplate, let alone need. This was capped off with ludicrously high cymbals and guitar ten feet high. Normal this band weren’t.
The elephant in the room is Braxton’s absence; no songs from Mirrored were played and you could immediately sense the audience’s disappointment when they realised this. However, without Braxton there was no way that the band could have replicated the power of his vocals, or made anything other than a poor imitation. Whether Battles in the future will hire a lead vocalist is unsure; I would hedge that they would but they have taken the band in a startling new direction that is totally unlike their first album or any of the earlier EPs.
The first thing to note is that all members are very accomplished instrumentalists, playing a variety of roles, so much that it seemed like they were almost doing too much. However, no groove was out of place, each time signature was meticulously kept. Special mention must go to the drummer John Stanier who went at it like a hyena who hasn’t eaten in a year, at a rate so ridiculous his sticks were a blur, creating a wave of sound that, while loud, did not drown out the others. At the end he stood up the reveal a shirt soaked through with sweat to the largest applause of the evening. He deserved it.
The songs themselves, all from the latest album Gloss Drop, have a greater power live than in studio. ‘Futura’ builds and builds to a crazy level, to the point that you think that this level of intensity cannot be kept up but instead it just keeps going. ‘Africastle’ is an eclectic mix of word music and electronic beeping that coalesces into a style that is very much Battles’ own. Backing artists made appearances from wide screens behind the artists, their faces slowed and repeating at various points. The standout of the night by far was their latest single ‘Ice Cream’ featuring a little known singer Matias Aguayo, a song that has a bit of everything and is the most accessible slice of pop Battles have yet produced.
A word on the crowd: it was beset by the most irritating fans who liked to jump on stage and try and crowdsurf. I have never understood fans of the band who are so obsessed try to usurp the band’s stage time but then I realised that they were egomaniancs. Apart from this, Battles demonstrated their instrumental virtuosity combined with their ability to find a groove and stick with it. Their album will be a success and I am glad, but I cannot help but feel there is something missing with the departure of their singer and that a door of accessibility has closed. Still worth your money though
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