Recording: Several Futures

Artist: Several Futures

Song: Heroic Phase^*

Recorded at Smiling Buddha, June 28, 2014.

Several Futures - Heroic Phase

Full review to follow. Seeing the kids taking their first kick at the can and re-inventing rock'n'roll by sheer dint of their enthusiasm is great, but I'm also a fan of seeing old hands reassemble in new forms to create something that's informed both by past experience and new enthusiasm. This debut performance by Several Futures was a hit in that regard, taking some ingredients familiar to the musicians here but torquing things into a new topology.

Jonny Dovercourt (bass/vox) and Matt Nish-Lapidus (guit/vox) played together in the more experimental Hybrid Moments, but the improvisatory postpunk shifts on the shred/drone continuum that they explored there have now been sublimated to a more song-based template. Dovercourt also previously played with drummer Evan Davies in Republic of Safety¹, so there was no lack of familiarity and easy interplay on stage, even if this material was getting its first public airing. There were short songs and a couple longer ones, plus places where hardcore-esque jousting shifted into jagged Slint-offs. The band already has a couple tracks up on their soundcloud, so they're definitely hitting the ground running.

^* Thanks to Jonny for passing the title to this one along.

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¹ Careful observers would have noted that they were greeted at the door of this gig by another former member of Republic of Safety as well!