PYNCH + MAX FULCRUM & THE WIN + RIFF RAFF + JOPY – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 25.10.23
October’s ‘Hidden Herd Presents’, Brighton’s monthly spotlight for exciting emerging artists, ones-to-watch and hidden gems, featured Pynch, Max Fulcrum & The Win, Riff Raff and Jopy. It was yet another good night showcasing a variety of new music at The Hope & Ruin.
Pynch
Headliners London DIY dreamers Pynch brought their fresh unique dream pop which sits between indie and electronic. The four-piece band consisted of brothers Spencer (vocals, guitar) and Scott (bass) plus Julianna (drums) and James (synths). Having seen them play Brighton back in April (Review HERE) I was excited to catch up with Pynch again.
Pynch opened with their debut single 2019’s ‘Disco Lights’ with its dreamy synth intro. James’s synth parts made Pynch’s sound different from standard dream indie pop. People were dancing along from that first song of the set. The up-tempo ‘Tin Foil’ had Pynch’s signature jangly indie guitar, reminiscent of The Las or Johnny Marr. The brothers Spencer and Scott came together to play off each other on the guitar instrumental breaks.
Pynch took the opportunity to showcase some new unreleased songs. Spencer explained, “We’ve been doing lots of writing. We’re going to play some new ones.” The first of these ‘Shoegaze Mixtape’ was announced with “It’s the first time we’ve played this one in Brighton.” The synth part on this track was more to the fore. It was faster and louder than the “shoegaze” in its title might suggest, with one person in the audience playing along on air-guitar.
Before the next new song ‘How To Love Someone’ started, Spencer explained what he described as his “knowing look to the drummer to start”, as Juliana’s drumming kicked off this song. Her strong quality drumming underpinned the band’s guitar-based sound on this and across the set. The drums were more prominent than might be expected from a band who describe themselves as “DIY dreamers”, but it worked perfectly. They didn’t just differentiate and give a foundation, but added depth to Pynch’s sound. ‘How To Love Someone’ included a good lively instrumental break in the latter part of the song.
‘Karaoke’, an older song, had a more straightforward arrangement. There were interesting space themed effects on synth for good measure, if anybody thought it was straight out the standard indie pop instruction manual. ‘Supermarket’ was another new song, which pointed to more of an evolution rather than a radical shift in the band’s sound. That said, the vocals were more to the fore and delivered more forcefully.
For the song ‘London’ somebody from the audience joined the band on stage to play tambourine. This wasn’t the only change around for this song; Scott put down his bass guitar to play keyboards. This did make it fairly crowded with James playing synth on the same small bench. This song had a slower melancholy feel.
The opening to ‘Microwave Rap’, another unreleased song, was simple but effective. It had softer drums with a guitar accompaniment, before it built to a fast louder dance track. There was no hanging around at the start of the final song of the set ‘Somebody Else’ with Juliana’s distinctive drumming. The contrast between Juliana’s thumping drums and James’s more elaborate synth part worked very well on this track. During this song bassist Scott wandered among the dancers in the audience to play, while guitarist Spencer fell to his knees to play the instrumental breaks.
Pynch’s mix of pop guitars, synths, dance-worthy drumbeats combined to produce fresh sounding catchy indie pop tunes, which was the key feature throughout their set. This was received with huge applause and was fully appreciated by the audience.
Pynch are now going into the studio to record their second album. From the new material showcased at ‘Hidden Herd Presents’, it should be very good. The band promised me, they’ll include a Brighton date, when they tour their forthcoming album. A date that will be added to my diary as soon as it’s announced, and I suspect it’ll be the same for many at The Hope & Ruin at October’s ‘Hidden Herd’ event.
Pynch:
Spencer Enock – vocals, guitar
Scott Enock – bass
Julianna Hopkins – drums
James Rees – synths
Pynch setlist:
‘Disco Lights’ (from 2023 ‘Howling At A Concrete Moon’ album)
‘Tin Foil’ (from 2023 ‘Howling At A Concrete Moon’ album)
‘Shoegaze Mixtape’ (an unreleased song)
‘How To Love Someone’ (an unreleased song)
‘Karaoke’ (from 2023 ‘Howling At A Concrete Moon’ album)
‘Supermarket’ (an unreleased song)
‘London’ (from 2023 ‘Howling At A Concrete Moon’ album)
‘Microwave Rap’ (an unreleased song)
‘Somebody Else’ (from 2023 ‘Howling At A Concrete Moon’ album)
Exciting newcomers Jopy opened October’s ‘Hidden Herd’ event. Led by Jo Parnell, the project initially started as a solo venture before evolving into a dynamic three-piece. Singer and guitarist Jo has been joined by drummer Louis and bassist Ally. Ally looked ready for Halloween with her painted face and skeleton onesie.
Jopy kicked off their set with their fast and loud post punk guitar sound. After starting their second song, which Jo explained was about transphobia, there was a technical problem with Jo’s pedal board. While this was being fixed, Louis filled in with a rather impressive drum solo. Once everything was fixed, Jo said “Let’s restart at the guitar solo, as it’s good”. It was.
‘Twisting’ and ‘Why Don’t We Dance’ were powerful no-nonsense songs. ‘Headshot’, the band’s debut release, had a more indie pop sound. The next track featured a really good bass line from Ally. Their closing track was somewhat less aggressive, with the fast tempo building through the song.
Jopy describe their vibrant sound as “energetic indie-pop to mosh to”, which based on their performance is spot on. There was a very positive reaction from the audience, who cheered and danced along to Jopy’s thrilling and energetic opening set.
You can catch Jopy, when they return to Brighton at the Goo Records showcase on 9th November at the Green Door Store. You can get tickets HERE.
Next up were genre-bending newcomers Riff Raff, a six-piece band featuring versatile vocals, guitars, violin, keys, bass and drums. For their performance at The Hope & Ruin, there were five of them.
There was a wide-ranging mix of musical styles, and also on the vocals. The singer had hints of Siouxsie of Siouxsie and The Banshees and Sister Sniffany of Sniffany and the Nits, and included spoken word, screaming and even a rap like delivery on ‘Ratty Look’ Cheeky Chappy’.
Musically Riff Raff’s sound drew upon elements of jazz, soul and psychedelia, with a few hints of prog rock and metal guitars. While varied, some of the styles seemed to clash and at times it seemed like the musicians were competing with each other.
Riff Raff’s closing song by contrast had a dreamy intro and almost a solo vocal with the violin as the main instrument on an uncomplicated accompaniment. Although some may have been confused by Riff Raff’s mix of musical genres, many more enjoyed their performance.
Third up were Max Fulcrum & The Win, which is the project of North London multi-instrumentalist Dominic Rose. He was previously the vocalist and leader of psych-disco collective Fake Turins. For the live show Dominic was joined by a backing singer, who also played recorder, and five other musicians including a percussionist who had two drums with tea-towels over them.
Their psychedelic and dance sound had funky bass lines and jangly guitars with the keyboards and synths adding a dreamy feel. There were hints of country and post-punk new wave on some songs within their set. This was all held together by very solid quality drums. Dominic’s sharp direct vocal delivery worked well with the more ethereal voice of the band’s other singer.
Many in the audience were enthusiastically dancing along to Max Fulcrum & The Win, including members of the previous band Riff Raff. Their lively up-tempo set went down well judging by the dancing and cheers from the audience.
There were a few technical problems over the evening with Jopy’s pedalboard, Riff Raff having to borrow a guitar from Pynch, and minor delays to all the sets. While this did interrupt the flow of the performances, overall, this didn’t majorly affect the evening’s entertainment. It was another great night of varied new musical talent from ‘Hidden Herd’.
‘Hidden Herd Presents’ returns to The Hope & Ruin on Thursday 30th November, when the lineup includes Wooze, Welly, Lonnie Gunn and Owners Club – Grab your tickets HERE.
While on 6th December event, DAMEFRISØR, AtticOmatic, Ideal Living and Moon Idle are the artists of choice – Tickets HERE.
