The rather wonderful Pale Blue Eyes consisting of Lucy Board – drums; Matthew Board – guitar, vocals; Aubrey Simpson – bass and for live concerts John Gooding – synths; will be heading out on tour this coming November in support of their forthcoming ‘This House’ album, which is set to drop on 1st September. The new release will be available from many outlets, which can be located HERE.
The 15 date UK tour will cover the length and breadth of the country and will see the band playing live here in Brighton on the final night of the tour, when they will be heading to Patterns on Sunday 19th November. Support on the tour will come from Brighton based CIEL.
Tickets for the Brighton concert at Patterns on Sunday 19th November go on sale at 10am on Friday 2nd June and can be purchased HERE.
In fact, local fans in the Brighton area are going to be truly spoiled as Pale Blue Eyes will also be performing a live set and album signing in Resident records in Kensington Gardens on Wednesday 6th September. Further details on this performance can be found HERE.
Pale Blue Eyes entertained punters at this year’s Great Escape new music festival. We caught up with them on two separate occasions on Friday 12th May. Here are both accounts of their showcase sets, that will give you an indication of what to expect when they return to Brighton in November:
SHIPWRIGHTS YARD 3:45pm – 4:05pm (Alternative Escape ‘Republic Of Music presents The Shipwrights Yard Session’) (Review by Richie Nice)
Next on in Shipwrights Yard are Pale Blue Eyes, a four-piece from Totnes in Devon, playing a particularly atmospheric sort of indie rock. I’m interested to catch them live as they are booked for the ‘Seaview Festival’ at The De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill later in the summer. I think I’m going to like them, and I’m not disappointed. They set off at a brisk pace with ‘Globe’, overlaid with a supremely catchy guitar hook that has a tiny hint of ‘She Sells Sanctuary’. Matthew Board is on lead vocals and guitar, with Aubrey Simpson on bass, Lucy Board on drums, and John Gooding pouring a wash of synth over proceedings. The swirling intro of ‘TV Flicker’ gives way to a bass driven chug overlaid with a haunting keyboard hook. This is a great band, and the audience seem to be loving the performance. It just gets better too, with an utterly mesmeric Krautrock-style groove for ‘Motionless’. The numbers are satisfyingly long, so we don’t have time for too many. They conclude with ‘Dr Pong’, another wonderful piece featuring juddering synth. Matthew is really lost in the music, digging into his guitar with an ecstatic look on his face. There’s a discernible psych feel to the chorus and an utterly gorgeous section of synth arpeggios. This brief set was an absolute joy.
HORATIOS 11:30pm – 12:00am (Review by Mark Kelly)
Pale Blue Eyes hail partially from Sheffield, and partially from Totnes in Devon. So they embody an entente cordiale against any perceived north-south divide. Their music is very post-punk. There are extremely strong hints of both Joy Division and New Order, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Many of the songs have a fabulous motorik groove, and all four of the band are completely in the moment when they hit that groove. It’s wonderful to see a band who clearly love what they do so much! Singer and guitarist Matt is clearly at least a little bit influenced by Kevin Shields, but doesn’t threaten his audience’s hearing quite so much. This is the second time that I’ve seen Pale Blue Eyes since I saw them supporting Goat in London last month, and if anything they’re better than before, and they were good then! There are plenty of opportunities to see them coming up: they play the ‘Seaview Festival’ in Bexhill-on-Sea on 8th July, the ‘Visions Festival’ in Hackney on 22nd July, and Shoreditch Village Underground on 16th November. Come on – you just have to love a band named after a Velvet Underground song!
