Where Two Door Cinema Club have paved the way, fellow Belfastians Not Squares shall follow. Don’t be fooled into thinking they’re as accessible and poptastic as their younger counterparts, mind - one listen to second single Asylum will tell you otherwise.
Not Squares couldn’t be further removed from the aforementioned Two Door boys, unless they were making some kind of gangsta rap-doomcore hyprid. Asylum and it’s b-side Bi Kan Na are slices of mind-warping electro, mixed with shouty math-rock vocals. If the late, great Mae Shi had focused more on their electronic side rather than the punk vocals, it’s easy to imagine they would’ve sounded a lot like this.
After playing various BBC Introducing affiliated events, including a slot at Reading and Leeds festivals last summer, and on the basis of this example of their beautiful, noisy genius, things are looking good for Northern Ireland’s most labyrinthine electro wizards.
