PVA + TONY NJOKU – CHALK, BRIGHTON 26.10.22
Tonight, on this mild late October evening, we headed off to Pool Valley which is located a stone’s throw from Brighton Beach, to go to the Chalk music venue in order to be entertained by up-and-coming London trio PVA, who have this month released their eleven blistering track ‘BLUSH’ debut album, which is a blend of acid, disco, blistering synths, dancefloor and post-punk.
The outfit consists of Ella Harris and Josh Baxter (who share lead vocals as well as handling synths, guitars and production) alongside drummer and percussionist Louis Satchell. They initially formed in the aftermath of a house party in 2018 and the three-piece have since earned a fearsome reputation as one of the capital’s premier live outfits, garnering hardcore support before even setting inside a studio. They have supported the likes of Squid, HMLTD, Dry Cleaning and The Orielles, but tonight they are out on their own right as headline act.
I find it so rewarding that a band that you stumble across and instantly take a fancy to their sound, begins to blossom and expand as more and more folk come on board. PVA is one such band! In June 2021 they were headlining The Prince Albert in Brighton and now here we are this evening in the much larger Chalk venue. Tonight has not quite sold out, but there are many more punters watching and enjoying their set than previously. Clearly word’s out on this lot and they are on a similar trajectory as Working Men’s Club. The gap being a very similar length of timescale from when IDLES first broke before Fontaines D.C. first broke.
This is PVA’s second visit to Brighton this month, as they played an intimate instore gig at Resident music in support of their album, just eleven days ago. I note that Resident’s owner is also in attendance this evening as she was bopping along to the tunes. You can read our review of that performance HERE. The band also played at last year’s ‘Mutations Festival’, where by coincidence, they also played live at Chalk. My review of their performance that afternoon concluded by stating “I really enjoyed this set and it was right up there in my top Mutations Festival performances. Without doubt, I would go and see this lot again”. And so here I am again tonight eagerly waiting at the front of the crowd for Ella, Josh and Louis to grace the stage.
However, before we get to that, we have the small matter of the support artist, Tony Njoku, who is a British-Nigerian electronic music producer and songwriter from London. Raised in between Lagos and London the twenty-three year old has always been a frequent globetrotter with the breadth of his travels reflected in his music. His self-penned and produced songs have been described as ‘strikingly evocative soundscapes, managing to make even the shortest pop songs sound like epic adventures.
He’s played widely across Europe, supporting acts including Kokoko!, Gaika, Anna Von Hauswolff, Laura Misch, Puma Blue, IDER and River Consoles. He was the winner of 2016’s Green Man Rising competition and has appeared at key tastemaker festivals Simple Things, Sonic City and Gilles Peterson’s We Out Here.
Known for taking on a genre-bending aesthetic, Njoku is one of the more diverse and adventurous artists working today. Taking influence from the trap-inspired hip-hop sound and combining that with a fresh and atmospheric production, he achieves a distinct and remarkable sonic vision reminiscent of Sampha, Aphex Twin, Moses Sumney, and serpentwithfeet.
His first album ‘In Greyscale’ came out in 2016, which was followed two years later by ‘H.P.A.C.’. The following year ‘Your Psyche’s Rainbow Panorama’ album arrived and his latest outing is a seven song released titled ‘Our New Bloom’ which dropped on 7th October.
Prior to Tony’s arrival on stage at 8:03pm, we had a gander at the equipment to be used for the performance. There was a brightly coloured Studiologic Sledge 2.0- 8 Voice Virtual Analogue Polysynth, a compact Moog Minitaur subharmonic bass machine, a laptop, a Korg keyboard and a Casio keyboard. Clearly his sound was going to be electronic and indeed it was and from the outset the floor was bouncing a goodun as it was so loud, but crisp loud, not distorted loud.
Tony was positioned centre front stage and he tends to sing in a higher pitch over his modern dance sounds. For a majority it was toe tapping, hip swinging material, with each tune lasting around three to four minutes and thus not outstaying their welcome. The increasing sized audience were enjoying the set, and I personally preferred the faster tunes, which were banging. But the last couple of numbers, including ‘Rhododendrons’ were in stark contrast to what had gone before as they were quiet ballad type affairs. After entertaining us for 29 minutes, Tony was done at 8:32pm. He packed his gear away and left a large central void at the front of the stage.
Tony Njoku setlist:
‘Death By Dimitri’ (from 2021 ‘Killtony’ EP)
‘All Is Aligned’ (from 2018 ‘H.P.A.C.’ album)
‘Hapless’ (from 2019 ‘Your Psyche’s Rainbow Panorama’ album)
‘Time Has’ (from 2016 ‘In Greyscale’ album)
‘Naive & Apprehensive’ (from 2019 ‘Your Psyche’s Rainbow Panorama’ album)
‘Rhododendrons’ (from 2022 ‘Our New Bloom’ mini-album)
‘Rapture’ (from 2019 ‘Your Psyche’s Rainbow Panorama’ album)
‘The Reset’ (from 2021 ‘The Reset’ single)
It was now time for the headliners to grace the Chalk stage. The equipment being used this evening by PVA for their twelve number set from 9:02pm to 10:15pm was a Hydrasynth Keyboard made by Ashun Sound Machines (ASM), a BeatStep Pro – Arturia (controller, performance sequencer and composing tool), Roland baseline is a TB-03, a Vonyx PSS302 Vocalist PA System, drums and Roland Drum Pads, a Korg Prologue synthesizer, a Syntakt Drum Computer and Synthesizer by Elektron, a Fender Guitar, and a tambourine.
Louis was positioned centre stage but to the rear behind his drum set and was flanked by Ella (stage left, our right) and Josh (stage right, our left). Their set consisted of almost all of their new ‘BLUSH’ album, with the exception of ‘Seven’ and the 48 second long ‘Interlude’, so that was nine from ‘BLUSH’, with the remaining tunes being their 2020 ‘Divine Intervention’ single and and two tunes from the same year’s ‘Toner’ EP.
The brooding intro sound began encircling the venue at 8:59pm as the talented trio took to the stage. It was amazing seeing them up there on a large stage where they belong! Myself and my friends around me were buzzing and anticipating some serious electronic dance action, we weren’t disappointed!
From 9:02pm when song one, ‘Transit’ began, Josh was mainly in control of the Hydrasynth Keyboard and occasional vocals, whereas vocalist Ella was sharing duties behind the Korg Prologue synthesizer and playing her Fender Guitar. The sound was again quite loud and so it regularly drowned out Ella’s words, which was a shame. But this disappearing vocals in the mix has happened on previous PVA concerts I have attended, maybe it’s their thing?
‘Untethered’ was up next and it’s a bangin’ ‘aciiid style tune’….cue dancing at the front! This was followed by another body moving gem in the form of ‘Hero Man’. For the funky ‘Divine Intervention’ single, Josh switched to Fender guitar, and this rhythm reminded me of the twangy funky vibe found in Haircut 100’s ‘Favourite Shirt (Boy Meets Girl)’ tune. For tune five, ‘Bunker’, it was time for Josh to take on the vocal duties for this slow rave feel tune. ‘Comfort Eating’ followed with Ella back on vocal duty. Their quick step chic number ‘Bad Dad’ delivered with sexy sass was up next, this was my friends choice tune of the night.
It was now time for Josh’s four minutes of fame as he literally took centre front stage with the mic and delivered the slowish electronic chugging beat that is ‘The Individual’ which had the feel of a Prodigy track. Ella took over on the Hydrasynth Keyboard. It was dawning on me that here is a band that are growing in confidence with their live performances and they are all the better for it. Josh was moving the mic wire and trying to get some good length on it and I was anticipating him launching himself off stage and heading off into the crowd. This did not happen , but I reckon that it might have crossed his mind. Maybe on the next tour this will happen and they will be bridging the energy gap between themselves and Syd Minsky from Working Men’s Club.
Another cut from ‘BLUSH’ was up next in the form of ‘Kim’, which is a menacing screaming number that was waiting to get going with its sticky warm vocals. ‘Soap’ followed, which Ella informed us was about life and during this number she had big smiles across her face as she knows what the lyrics are about. She then began making ballet-like movements as in feeling the music through her body. It was like watching a certain person going by the name of Guðmundsdóttir aka Björk. Ella’s confidence has grown as well since I first saw them live. I couldn’t imagine her doing this back then, but now she really is in her element.
The penultimate number was ‘Sleek Form’, the first of two numbers from their excellent ‘Toner’ EP. This is a faster number and Ella’s tambourine had a slight bashing too. This was without doubt my favourite tune of the whole night. They closed with ‘Exhaust / Surroundings’, which saw Ella back on Fender duty with Josh on vocals and it is a more traditional rock number that is backed by synths, but then it morphs into something akin to the Chemical Brothers. The tune concluded at 10:15pm and the crowd were very impressed indeed. Tonight was a great success for the band as bore witness to the long merch queue!
PVA Setlist:
‘Transit’ (from 2022 ‘BLUSH’ album)
‘Untethered’ (from 2022 ‘BLUSH’ album)
‘Hero Man’ (from 2022 ‘BLUSH’ album)
‘Divine Intervention’ (from 2020 ‘Divine Intervention’ single)
‘Bunker’ (from 2022 ‘BLUSH’ album)
‘Comfort Eating’ (from 2022 ‘BLUSH’ album)
‘Bad Dad’ (from 2022 ‘BLUSH’ album)
‘The Individual’ (from 2022 ‘BLUSH’ album)
‘Kim’ (from 2022 ‘BLUSH’ album)
‘Soap’ (from 2022 ‘BLUSH’ album)
‘Sleek Form’ (from 2020 ‘Toner’ EP)
‘Exhaust / Surroundings’ (from 2020 ‘Toner’ EP)
Check out PVA on their Bandcamp page HERE and visit pva.band for further information.
