Mirrors @ The Forum 4/8/10

An evening of righteous electronic music was had at the cozy little bar that is The Forum in Sheffield, courtesy of a lively duo from Leeds and a well-dressed quartet from Brighton.

It all started out with Detronik, an electronic duo from Leeds who skillfully strut their stuff on stage. While Richy Spence moves around like a manic on keyboards and samples (and does his little dance schtick), John Steed holds to the microphone and drones from time to time. “Take me back into the 80s / why would you frown? / … / you were there” is the answer to any question regarding their sound.

Although the crowd was small (let’s call it “intimate”), the duo had a good humour. They were obviously having a good time and the applauses reassured them of this. A strange quip regarding Gary Coleman and more dancey music was their goodbye.

Then it was the turn for Mirrors, who waited in the back of Forum, all well dressed in smart-looking suits. An instrumental pre-recorded sound sample was their intro fanfare and they calmly took the stage, with a cool video projection shown on their backs.

The only probable sour note is that some songs are difficult to tell apart, as there are similarities between some of the song (I.e. drum beat pattern) and as someone who has never seen them before, this was a little hurdle to surpass. Still, what struck me as a great tune was the second-to-last one, called ‘Lights and offerings’, which is the b-side to their single ‘Into the heart’, which is a good song too (and memorable). Proper 7” material there, of which they had a few to sell by.

Their set was very eighties like, and even if sometimes the music didn’t hit home as hard as expected, the visual display and their stage presence did elevate the show. All the video techniques (chroma, solarising, old film, pastiches, weird trippy effects) gave it an experimental air that probably is what the band needs to make a mark on their live shows.

—Sam

Links

Detronik Myspace.

Mirrors Myspace.