Source: Promo Image
The Electric in Brixton is not the biggest venue, sitting at around 1,700 capacity. This had us worrying when we saw Alcest and Mono were playing there. “Are not many people in on these bands?” we wondered. It turns out that there is, actually, about 1,700 who don’t just like Alcest or Mono – they really really love them.
Watching Alcest was something akin to watching the sea. One minute it was something serene and beautiful, the next minute it was angry, to the point of furious, still beautiful but in a very different way. Alcest are a band who have honed their craft over many years, a fact which was easily told by the tightness of the band and the skill with which they played their songs. The singing especially from founder Neige and touring guitarist Zero was as perfect as you could want it to be, and though Alcest’s music has taken them far from their black metal beginnings, when Neige wants to scream, it is just as painful and haunting as it sounds on record. Accompanied by a really fat bass tone and thunderously loud and skillful playing from other full-time member Winterhalter, Alcest’s set was not one people went physically mad for, but you could still easily tell they were loving every second of it.
Mono were a bit more like watching the sun come up. What starts as a beautiful and calm moment very quickly becomes something incredibly intense – staring directly at a massive ball of fire or watching a band of extremely skilled Japanese musicians lose their shit on stage. Mono’s show is all about sucking you into their world, making you feel their music as they clearly do. Their music builds and builds and builds to the point that you don’t think it could get any more intense, and the band are going wild on stage and the light show is dazzling – and then it suddenly stops. The song ends and the crowd goes mental with appreciation. It’s hard to put into words how affecting Mono can be when they are at their peak and this was a show full of peaks.
This night was about one thing only – two really great bands, both very far from home, playing incredible, intense music, for people who are in love with music.
