Glass Animals @ The HiFi, April 4

It’s approaching Britpop’s anniversary, but the British bands breaking into the mainstream are nowhere near the guitar led laddish rock of bands like Oasis and Blur, in fact, what’s popular now is probably closer to the sound on Blur’s unpopular albums. When Blur veered away from the catchy pop tunes that made them famous toward a more layered lo-fi electronic sound people were not to happy. But that was then and this is now, and the now is Glass Animals.

Glass Animals describe their music as ‘a weird, psychedelic cocktail of electronic and organic sound’. It would be difficult to top that description, but to give you some more perspective, file Glass Animals with the likes of Alt J, Animal Collective and Flying Lotus, if you must. The band popped out of seemingly nowhere earlier this year, grabbing the attention of fans and critics alike with their majestic slow-burning RnB track ‘Gooey’. Since then the band have only continued to gain more followers with a handful of single releases. In 2012 the band released their first EP with older songs such as ‘Cocoa Hooves’ and ‘Golden Antlers’, tunes that unfortunately have the feeling of a new band coming to grips with their sound. Although Glass Animals have really developed their sound since then, many of their tracks still feel a little underwhelming. It is Glass Animals' live show that really exhibits the strong potential the group have to become a really evocative and dynamic band.

Despite their meagre musical output, Glass Animals’ steady following certainly justified the room size of The Hi-Fi, which was fairly full on Friday, April 4 for their first Brisbane show. Nevertheless, the $45 ticket price did seem fairly unjustified for what must have amounted to a thirty-five minute show from the band, with only one supporting act. Despite these shortcomings, Glass Animals put on the best show they could have possibly done at The-HiFi, compensating for the short and sweet running time by turning the entire event into an immersive spectacle with smoke machines coming at you left, right and centre, timed perfectly with the band's moody introspective beats.

Glass Animals open with one of their most interesting tracks ‘Pyslla’, a tune that displays the diversity of their influences from psych to triphop to RnB. Whilst the result is an innovative sound, ‘Pyslla’ also demonstrates where the band's sound is lacking. Their eclectic range of influences may produce interesting results, but most of the time the songs come off feeling slightly awkward and disjointed. The group dabbles with different sounds all throughout the track, but they never really take these sounds as far as they go. The opening exotic drumbeats of ‘Pyslla’ hint at an interesting sound the band could explore, but instead the song kind of plods along without ever really going anywhere. About two minutes into ‘Pyslla’ the song builds to a rising climax, but as with most of their songs, the band do not follow through with the rising momentum and end the song on an anticlimax. Because Glass Animals focus too much on experimenting with different styles and sounds, ‘Pyslla’ and many of their other songs, lack the strong backbone needed to resonate on a deeper level.

Whilst these underwhelming aspects of Glass Animals’ sound are still evident when performed live, the songs feel much fuller and intoxicating in the live arena. The band transports every iota of their energetic beings into a solid performance that seriously elevates the power of their somewhat flat recordings. Although there is a still a little to be desired, there is lot to be gained from seeing Glass Animals live. The band prove just how immersive and dynamic electronic music can be when the people on stage truly make an effort to connect with their audience. If the band could incorporate this organic energy more fully into their recordings they would have a much stronger sound. As it stands, much of Glass Animals’ recordings feel a little too polished and with a name like that, the band really need to be bringing the raw dynamic aesthetic that defines their live show into the studio.

Glass Animals’ sound harks back to the triphop beats of other British groups like Massive Attack and Porthishead and whilst the band do share many positive aspects with these groups, such as their dark minimalist aesthetic, they fail to reach the intense emotional highs that defines triphop. Part of this is because the band’s lead singer Dave Brayley does not have a strong enough voice to carry the intended emotional impact. Songs like ‘Exxus’ really evoke that triphop mood with its dark dismal beats, but Brayley’s somewhat flat and emotionless delivery really brings down the energy. Fortunately, ‘Black Mambo’ picks up where ‘Exxus’ leaves a lot to be desired, incorporating a sensual groovy aesthetic into the dismal triphop backbone that projects a lot more colour and life into Glass Animals’ music.

By the time we reach the end of Glass Animals’ set and they perform their ‘Like A Version’ rendition of Kanye West’s ‘Love Lockdown’, it feels like a premature finale. By this point in the set the audience have really only just had the chance to relax into the show and there is a distinct feeling of 'is this it?' circulating throughout the room as the lights turn on and everybody leaves. Before the band does finish, however, they treat the audience with their most popular single to date ‘Gooey’. Although most of the audience squeal and yelp with delight as the band play the song, ‘Gooey’ really feels more like filler material, lacking the exotic ragbag of influences that define tracks like ‘Pyslla’ and ‘Black Mambo’. Whilst these songs did feel a little disjointed, ‘Gooey’ feels too simplified; a standard RnB track with your typical verse and chorus structure that does not really stray into any experimental territory. But I guess a band like Glass Animals need more accessible songs like ‘Gooey’ to inspire fans to listen to their more interesting experimental work. And judging by the audience’s enthusiastic response to ‘Gooey’ and the sheer size of the crowd, this approach has certainly worked for the group.

Published by 4zzz.