DEK (or Dream English Kid to give them their full name) are an exciting blend of electronica, live guitars, sax and vocals who once this tour is complete are set to release their debut EP from which (we assume) most of tonight's set is taken. The songs are set to black and white and faded colour video as if they're soundtracking a movie without a story yet it's that mysterious element that draws you in. Hannah's vocals, often deep in the mix are haunting and intoxicating and draw an initially reticent yet attentive audience in as their set progresses.
The KVB may be over a decade and six albums into their career yet there's no sign that Kat and Nick are content to let their creative urges be diluted by the passing of time. Tracks from last November's album Unity - the almost title track Unité and its stunning video projected on the back screen, World On Fire and Blind - combine the huge sonic landscapes that the two of them create with guitars, keys and Kat's myriad of dials and buttons with visuals that are as much a part of the live experience as the music itself.
For those new songs Kat's visuals take the album's striking artwork and take it on a journey to accompany the music whilst the older songs are brought to vivid life by the colours and shapes on the screen behind them. Close your eyes as you often do at gigs to transport yourself into the music and you'll miss a vital component of what The KVB are about - a full multimedia experience that's best experienced in the room with them.
Switching lead vocals, and often sharing them, adds depth to their eleven-song set which takes us on a journey through their back catalogue. The Deaf Institute is rammed, just like it used to be, and there's a rapturous response to old favourites such as Always Then, Above Us and the almost encore of Dayzed before which Kat jokes that if they leave the stage they probably wouldn't come back. The roar of an audience, full of people who've followed their path, or like us, are coming back to them after a long absence or discovering them for the first time, tells its own story of the energy and sense of magic that only live music of this quality and intensity can generate.
They tell us half through the set that they've now moved to Manchester to a huge roar from the crowd and it feels like a perfect home for The KVB, a band that operate on their own terms, driven by a love of what they do that's apparent from the very first notes of their set to the final moments where Nick lays his guitar down on the floor and treats its effects box as an instrument in its own right. Fiercely independent and content to follow their own path, The KVB transport you to their own world where their rules apply.
The KVB's website can be found here and they are on Facebook and Twitter. Their tour continues at Glasgow Stereo (January 24), Newcastle Think Tank (25), York The Crescent (26), Liverpool Arts Club Loft (27), Leicester O2 Academy (28), Birmingham Hare And Hounds (29), Bristol Thekla (30), Brighton Hope And Ruin (February 1) and London Moth Club (2).
DEK are on Facebook.
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