Everything Everything at Heaven  

It’s been two years since the release of the acclaimed Get to Heaven and it goes without saying that this band have finally arrived – at the renowned London nightclub hidden inside Charing Cross’ bricked arches. Emerging once again for their fourth album, A Fever Dream, set to come out in August, Everything Everything are on tour to promote their latest singles and enrapture their long-awaiting fans with their genre-defining, savvy, re-glamorising indie music.

The hubbub of anticipation burst once the fetching riffs for the unreleased track Night of Long Knives trembled and spawned the stagnant crowd into an uproar. Jonathan Higgs’s falsetto voice proved dependable and faultless, playfully harmonising pace with the swift drum machine and dreamy synths, foreshadowing a night of dynamic rock and electronic fusion. Blending the new with the old, the four-piece from Manchester fed fans with popular songs such as Kemosabe and Regret to unite the venue under a clamorous umbrella of singing that impressively overpowered Higgs’s vocals.

Bathed in blue light, the band’s angelic introduction for Big Game, a new single featured in their forthcoming album, boomed into a crescendo of polyrhythmic drumming and plumpy metallic chord composition from guitarist Alex Robertshaw. There is no doubt these guys have an abundance of compelling artistry to twist genre expectation, yet the lack of stage presence may have furrowed a brow or two. Although a trivial matter, it wasn’t until they played another unreleased track, A Fever Dream, that the enthusiasm on stage was enlivened. Illuminated in pin-striped spot lights, Higgs took centre stage with a keyboard to deliver the soft opening before the strobe lights were activated and bass player Jeremy Pritchard knocked the sweet ambience with full-toned twangs, wobbling audience’s knees and jerking necks.

Continuing their exuberance into the floor-rattling hit Cough Cough, the band lurched on stage while the crowd shimmied their shoulders and raised hands formed into heart-shapes for the bassy drop. Adding zest to genre conformities, the encore consisted of an Ibiza-clubbing prowess with notable favourites from 2015 – Distant Past and No Reptiles. Weaving house beats with the resonance of robust string instruments with distortion and loop pedals, Higgs’s undeviating vocals surfing between shouts and high-pitched crooning anchored the peculiar sounds into a delightful tapestry of advanced music aesthetics. This was an unpredictable night overall, searing musical obedience into originality many idolise but few will be able to replicate.

Shoka Shohani
Photos: Nick Bennett

For further information and future events visit the Everything Everything website here.

Watch the video for Distant Past here: