HAIKU HANDS + COCO AND THE LOST – PATTERNS, BRIGHTON 1.2.24
Casting my mind back almost six years to May 2018, the very first act I saw at Brighton’s Great Escape Festival that year was one Haiku Hands who are sisters Claire Nakazawa and Mie Nakazawa together with Beatrice Lewis, an alternative techno-dance trio hailing from Australia. As I recall, it was early on a Thursday afternoon at the Komedia basement. Following their half-hour set, it was as though the crowd had received a virtual adrenaline shot with a performance that was off-the-scale for entertainment value, everyone left with a broad smile nicely warmed up for the rest of the festival. The trio then made a swift return to the Komedia studio six months later and again repeated the dose, but to the best of my knowledge haven’t returned since – until now.
With Haiku Hands, there are no distracting instruments, just genre-busting techno blends sung, chanted and rapped to original backing tracks which are all completely infectious. This is accompanied by wonderfully hyperactive yet perfectly choreographed dance moves throughout the show together with some serious sass and party vibes that are probably matched only by their compatriots Confidence Man.
Tonight’s show kicked off with their latest single ‘Cool For You’ with its pulsating deep bass reverberating through the floor of Patterns instantly propelling the crowd into immediate action. Of the single, Bea Lewis says: “This song is about feeling yourself, being at a party and enjoying being yourself”, hard to disagree.
There wasn’t a single bad track in this hedonistic and varied set, the quality and breadth of their songwriting is superb. The second track up ‘Super Villain’ with its explicit chorus and anarchistic statements of intent had the audience whooping appreciatively.
There was an airing of no fewer than seven tracks from their superb new album ‘Pleasure Beast‘, amongst the best were the electro-punk style ‘Nunchucka’ and the euphoric ‘Ma Ruler’ with its pounding explicit and humorous chorus.
Amongst the other highlights were afro-beat influenced 2018 single ‘Squat’, its cool breaks and beats getting the crowd crouched down low. Another early track and favourite of mine is ‘Fashion Model Art’ written about posers at a party, which saw the girls don net masks and launch streamers into the crowd whilst chanting “I’m at a party!” – great fun.
The main set finished with my (and our Music Editor’s) favourite, their debut single ‘Not About You’ an absolute techno banger of a tune that still sounds as fresh as the time we first heard it, a must for any party playlist and a complete earworm.
After a brief stage exit, the trio returned to close out the performance with the melodic ‘Feels So Good’, their penultimate single release from the new album which has a great chorus and more of an indie-pop feel to it.
This is an extraordinarily talented trio that impart feel-good vibes from start to finish and everyone present was intoxicated by their incendiary performance. This had been a fabulous return to Brighton for Haiku Hands, easily the most fun I’ve had at a gig for a while. I just hope they don’t leave it so long to come back to the city next time!
Haiku Hands:
Claire Nakazawa – vocals
Beatrice Lewis – vocals and technology
Mie Nakazawa – vocals
Haiku Hands setlist:
‘Cool For You’ (from 2023 ‘Pleasure Beast’ album)
‘Super Villain’ (from 2020 ‘Haiku Hands’ album)
‘Ma Ruler’ (from 2023 ‘Pleasure Beast’ album)
‘Squat’ (a 2018 Haiku Hands x True Vibenation single)
‘Onset’ (from 2020 ‘Haiku Hands’ album)
‘Fashion Model Art’ (from 2020 ‘Haiku Hands’ album)
‘Eat This Bass’ (from 2020 ‘Haiku Hands’ album)
‘Grandma’ (from 2023 ‘Pleasure Beast’ album)
‘Nunchucka’ (from 2023 ‘Pleasure Beast’ album)
‘Paradise’ (from 2023 ‘Pleasure Beast’ album)
‘To The Left’ (from 2023 ‘Pleasure Beast’ album)
‘Geddit’ (from 2023 ‘Pleasure Beast’ album)
‘Not About You’ (from 2020 ‘Haiku Hands’ album)
(encore)
‘Feels So Good’ (from 2023 ‘Pleasure Beast’ album)
Support this evening was provided by Brighton resident Ella Flannery and her two band mates aka ‘Coco And The Lost‘ who my Brighton & Hove News colleague Peter Greenfield had previously recommended to me, so to this end I was excited to see them announced as support and they certainly didn’t disappoint.
From beginning to end, this was an eclectic performance of unadulterated charm, broadly falling under the Indie alt-pop category, although you could hear a number of influences in Coco’s music, a contemporary take on the Britpop era is certainly evident and her lyrics generally reflect personal experiences.
I enjoyed all of the songs but arguably the pick of the set for me was the powerful almost anthemic ‘Oh What a Curse It Is (To Be In Love)’ which is a belter of a tune and showcases Coco’s great vocal. The 2023 single ‘One Last Thing’ proffered a huge nod to Wolf Alice and MGMT, but is very much her own composition and a good one it is too. We also witnessed a new track performed live for the first time this evening ‘Communicator’ which was excellent and will make a great single.
I’m told by Peter this was Jamie the guitarist’s first performance with Coco, but you would never have known, this was a tight set and the superb drummer Connor didn’t miss a beat either.
Coco asked for anyone called John in the audience to reveal themselves for the final track, and one bold individual duly did so, thus the final track, ‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ was dedicated to him and it was an decent choice to close out with, being the title track of her debut EP and enjoying an up-tempo bassline and a strangely familiar yet original retro vibe.
Throughout the performance, Coco sang with verve and accentuated the lyrics of each song with great expression and as such, has a very engaging and natural on-stage persona. My colleague’s recommendation was well-founded and I’d really like to see Coco and her band again, next time as headliners, for her star is most definitely ascending.
Coco And The Lost:
Ella Flannery – vocals
Jamie – guitar
Connor – drums
Coco And The Lost setlist:
‘Everything Is Fine’ (from 2023 ‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ EP)
‘Communicator’ (unreleased)
‘Goodnight’ (unreleased)
‘Crying In The Bathroom’ (a 2021 single release)
‘This Is What It Looks Like’ (unreleased)
‘Oh What a Curse It Is (To Be In Love)’ (from 2023 ‘Moonbird’ EP)
‘One Last Thing’ (from 2023 ‘Moonbird’ EP)
‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ (from 2023 ‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ EP)
