SUNNBRELLA + GROWING BOI + ALFE – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 8.6.23
Sunnbrella
Sunnbrella brought their take on the dream-pop, shoegaze sound to Brighton for the first time on Thursday courtesy of local promoter Love Thy Neighbour. Sunnbrella is the project of Prague-born, London-based musician David Zbirka.
This was part of Sunnbrella’s UK tour following the release of their debut album ‘Heartworn’, which came out in February. ‘Heartworn’ was a lockdown venture written and recorded in parallel with David’s other work. (David also plays drums for Drug Store Romeos.) ‘Heartworn’ was co-produced by David and Patrick James Fitzroy (who has worked with PVA and Sorry).
Let’s get back to Thursday night at The Prince Albert. For their live show Sunnbrella were a five piece band. David was joined on vocals by Claire Peng, plus a bassist, drummer and an additional guitarist.
Sunnbrella opened their set with ‘Ivy League’ and ‘Wrong’ both with a refreshing take on shoegaze. The following song ‘A Week Or So’ was a more up-tempo indie tune. What was clear from the outset and throughout the set was the perfect male-female vocal harmonies between David and Claire. This was a key feature of Sunnbrella’s sound.
‘Polyester’, the lead single from the album, was a good example of Sunnbrella’s dream-rave combination of fuzzy guitar hooks and acid house beats. Dance rhythms were added into their dream-pop/indie/shoegaze sound. (The original title was ‘Dancefloor Daydreams’). By contrast to the uplifting music of ‘Polyester’, its lyrics are about lying to yourself and eventually realizing that you had it all wrong. Their song ‘No More’ was mixed with hints of My Bloody Valentine, while ‘Defend Urself’ was a much more of a dance number with reminders of Madchester and the indie dance sounds of 1990’s Manchester.
Many bands in the shoegaze genre have typically been accused of standing dead still on stage. That wasn’t the case with guitarist Samson Srinuan to the right of the stage, whose stance and mannerisms reminded me of Peter Hook. As Sunnbrella’s set progressed the band, as well as the audience, became more animated, moving and dancing to the music.
There was a change of tempo for the title track from the album ‘Heartworn’. It was a noticeably slower number, which started very dream-like and atmospheric before a solo by David singing with just his guitar. The rest of the band joined later in the song with a very good Slowdive-like instrumental section at the end.
The next two songs that Sunnbrella performed were the only ones not from the ‘Heartworn’ album. ‘It’s Cool’ (a 2020 single) was a cheerful indie tune on which the quality drumming was more to the fore. By comparison, ‘Lost & Found’ (a 2021 single) had a more post-punk feel to it.
Next it was back to new material with the opening track from the album, ‘Fever Dream’. This had an experimental opening and a strong bassline throughout the song. After the usual Thank-yous, Sunnbrella closed their set with ‘Dovetail’. The volume and speed built through this last song before some feedback to end the song and a very enjoyable performance.
Sunnbrella had a distinct and refreshing take on shoegaze. There were obvious comparisons to My Bloody Valentine and especially Slowdive (never a bad thing). Where Sunnbrella’s sound differed was by incorporating dance rhythms into their signature dream-pop, indie and shoegaze sound. Added to that Sunnbrella’s wonderful vocal harmonies fitted their music perfectly. Judging by the audience’s reaction, I wasn’t alone in loving Sunnbrella’s first time playing Brighton.
Sunnbrella can be found on Bandcamp.
Sunnbrella:
David Zbirka (lead vocals & rhythm guitar)
Claire Peng (vocals)
Jamal Malik (bass)
Samson Srinuan (lead guitar, synth)
Benedict McDowell (drums)
Sunnbrella setlist:
‘Ivy League’
‘Wrong’
‘A Week Or So’
‘Polyester’
‘No More’
‘Defend Urself’
‘Heartworn’
‘It’s Cool’
‘Lost & Found’
(‘Grip’ – interlude)
‘Fever Dream’
‘Dovetail’
Opening for Sunnbrella was AlfE with their indie guitar sound. AlfE is the solo project of Alfie Bowles, a 20 year old singer songwriter from Norwich, now based in Brighton. For the live performance at The Prince Albert, Alfie was joined on stage by another guitarist, bassist, drummer and keyboard player to form a five piece band. It was the first gig for AlfE’s drummer and they had a stand-in bassist as the regular one was unavailable touring elsewhere. As a side note, the keyboard player was sporting a West Ham United shirt after his team won the UEFA Europa Conference League the previous evening.
Back to the music. AlfE had a good indie guitar sound. Even with two thirds of the musicians playing for the first time in AlfE, the band was musically tight. Alfie announced that the band were in the studio recording new material. One of the new songs we were treated to, showed a different side of AlfE’s music. It was a slower number, which started as almost a solo by Alfie with minimal accompaniment from the band. He changed to a spoken-word story-telling vocal style. The rest of the band kicked in mid song.
Before the final song of the six-song set, Alfie explained that they made a last minute change, only learning to play their final number that afternoon. It turned out to be a very good version of The Cure’s ‘Boys Don’t Cry’. The few people who weren’t already moving along to AlfE’s music, were joining in on this final song. It was a very entertaining set and the band were clearly enjoying it, playing the whole set with broad smiles. This mood soon passed over into the audience, who seemed to fully appreciate AlfE’s performance.
If you want to catch them live, they are headlining the Green Door Store on Sunday 18th June. Tickets are available HERE.
AlfE:
Alfie Bowles (vocals and rhythm guitar)
John McCaig (lead guitar)
Theo Williams-Burchell (drums)
Roddy Brewer (keyboard)
Tim Baldwin (bass)
AlfE setlist:
‘Gazelles’
‘Orange Skies’
‘Chasing Yesterday’
‘UR All I Think About’
‘Privilege’
‘Boys Don’t Cry’ (a cover of The Cure’s song)
AlfE can be found on Soundcloud.
The second band on the bill at The Prince Albert was Growing Boi, which is the solo venture of songwriter and producer Christopher Matthewson. He is a seasoned session musician, who has toured with the likes of indie heavyweights The National and City and Colour. Growing Boi’s sound draws on the new wave of Lo-fi and psychedelia.
For Growing Boi’s live performance, Christopher Matthewson played guitar and keyboards and was joined on stage by a drummer and guitarist.
The opening two songs from Growing Boi both had dreamy starts that got louder later in the song on the instrumental break. This was typical of the songs in their set. Before playing ‘Nobody People’, Christopher explained that it was from the new album, which they’re recording. It was the slowest song of their set. On the next track ‘Overflow’ the keyboards were more prominent, than the guitar sound for most of the other songs. This was a very sad personal song written in about an hour immediately after a breakup from a long-term relationship.
Growing Boi closed their set with a much more up-tempo number ‘Nosedive’. There was more of a vocal duet with the guitarist on this song and they were almost shouting the lyrics compared to softer singing in the rest of the set. It sounded like the soft yacht rock from West Coast America in the 1970’s and 80’s. The audience seemed to enjoy Growing Boi, with polite applause between songs and at the end of their set.
Growing Boi can be found on Bandcamp.
Growing Boi:
Christopher Matthewson (vocals, guitar, keys)
Leo Clarke (bass)
Vi and Oli Newton (drums)
Growing Boi setlist:
‘Chloroform’
‘Another Time’
‘Cake’
‘Nobody People’
‘Overflow’
‘Day Like This’
‘Nosedive’
