Still Corners @ The Hope, Brighton – 10/02/2012 up

stillcorners

It’s striking just how visually different the four members of Still Corners are. They appear to be more like four strangers on a train platform than a band when first taking the stage. However as Circulars starts up, they instantaneously establish themselves as a unit. The sounds from the four corners of the stage are married into a sweep of ghostly melody.

There are dark undercurrents to Tessa Murray’s melodies. They are curiously disorientating like a dream conjured up in the deepest of sleeps. This is reinforced through the lonely images from old European cinema that are projected on the screen behind the band throughout the show. The disjointed visual translation of each song acts as a pleasing if pretentious accompaniment.

Tessa strives to charm the crowd with a polite spoken interruption; it immediately swallows the spectral character of the night. She declares her love for the donuts found on Brighton’s promenade. It seems strange that someone in the possession of otherworldly vocals is in actuality quite nervous and posh-sounding.

The eeriness returns at the sound of the distinctive drum intro to Cuckoo. A handful of people at the side of the stage begin to dance, all spacey and unaware of who their flailing limbs are disturbing. The prominent nature of the orgasmic build of Tessa’s breathy vocals at the closing of the song proves to be both liberating and disconcerting. The crowd however, are happily spooked and there is a loud roar of applause. Unfortunately the night climaxed early; and the following trail of uncanny melodies doesn’t gather the same level of excitement.

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God is in the TV is an online music and culture fanzine founded in Cardiff by the editor Bill Cummings in 2003. GIITTV Bill has developed the site with the aid of a team of sub-editors and writers from across Britain, covering a wide range of music from unsigned and independent artists to major releases.