slab celebrated the release of their debut album Taut with a packed out show in the basement of The Peer Hat in Manchester on Friday night delighting the crowd with their dark heavily instrumental brooding soundtrack.
We miss opener Glimmerpit, but descend the stairs of the venue to witness the force of nature that is Vice Vera, aka Tamsin formerly of the much-loved Mr Heart and LIINES. Venturing out solo, Vice Vera's work is dark and intoxicating, some songs, if the word applies to them, less than a minute, more fragments of music than traditional structures. One guitar, one microphone and an array of loop pedals is all Vice Vera needs to create moments of chaotic cacophony, looped guitars colliding with live ones whilst vocals move from softly-spoken to rip-your-head-off ferocious. Singles Tourist and Lunacy are the most accessible moments, but the attentive and enthusiastic audience are more drawn in by the rest, fascinated by the unexpected twists and turns and volte-face changes of direction.
The room's full for slab as the trio take to the stage, full of familiar faces who support the underground scene that The Peer Hat acts as a focal point for in an increasingly conformative Northern Quarter. They might just be a mere trio - Paul on vocals and bass, Tom on guitar and vocals and Lianne on drums - but they create the most outer-worldly sonic landscapes that emerge as if from nowhere as songs progress. The hot, sweaty and tightly-packed space of The Peer Hat is the perfect place for it.
The set comprises of seven of the nine songs from Taut and two new songs called Holding Pattern and The Grifter and they're joined for Defibrillator, one of the singles from the album, by Cassie from The Sewer Cats. They're at their best, no disrespect to Paul's vocals intended, when the three of them let loose and let the music take them and their audience over and the room becomes one in a way that only music can achieve and many artists can't. One minute it's Lianne's drums that take control and propel the song forward at rate of knots, the next everything drops and the guitar or the bass takes over with Paul's vocals given the songs a sense of pathos in their delivery that hits the mark.
The love in the room from audience to band and band to audience is palpable, three sets of thank yous are given out between songs, the roars of appreciation grow louder at the set progresses and when Cassie explains that whilst slab and The Sewer Cats are from different genres of music the ethics are the same and that's what's important.
That hits the nail on the head. slab will pass the cool influencers by for a multitude of reasons that mean the underground scene will stay that way but what they create is just waiting to be discovered by anyone who loves music in this purest of forms.
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