SUNKEN + LADYLIKE + GOODBYE + SWAN DEEP – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 27.11.24
Local promoters Hidden Herd returned to The Hope & Ruin on Wednesday night with another quality and varied lineup of new and upcoming artists, which included local Brighton bands ladylike, goodbye and Swan Deep, and the exciting Londoners Sunken.
Brighton four-piece Swan Deep opened the night’s entertainment. They were formed from lead singer James O’Brien’s experimental bedroom songwriting. The rest of the band’s line up consists of Esme (drums), Rolluin (guitar) and George (bass).
There was a soft start to Swan Deep’s first track ‘Everything Is In Motion’, with James’s low-key vocals. Esme’s different drumming style, where she tapped the rims of her drums, worked well on this track. For their second track ‘Through A Ripped Seam’ James swapped between the usual mic and his custom-made microphone fashioned from an old telephone handset made by local company Modest Mics. This wasn’t a gimmick, as it added an interesting muffled effect to his vocals.
‘UFO’, their latest single release, was one of my highlights of their set. It started with a very good bass line from George, and James sang to minimal accompaniment before the music built and fell. Within their varied set, James sang ‘Why Couldn’t I See’ solo with the rest of the band sitting on the stage floor. Crouched behind her drumkit, Esme could be seen softly playing a cymbal at full stretch. James’s vocals were varied on the final two songs with the reappearance of the telephone mic on ‘Toy Cars’, while the echo effect was used on ‘Late Spring’. ‘Late Spring’ had a mellow start before Esme’s drums picked up the pace. With James’s saxophone part later in the song, it was a fitting choice to end a very good opening set by Swan Deep.
Swan Deep:
James – vocals, guitar and saxophone
Esme – drums
Rolluin – guitar
George – bass
Swan Deep setlist:
‘Everything Is In Motion’
‘Through A Ripped Seam’
‘UFO’ (a 2024 single release)
‘Stars (Bleeding)’
‘I’m Not Here’
‘Why Couldn’t I See’
‘Toy Cars’
‘Late Spring’ (a 20214 single release)
Fast-rising Brighton quintet Goodbye (stylised as ‘goodbye’), who only played their first live gig in September, were next up. They are Megan Wheeler (vocals), Sarah Ryan (guitar, synth, vocals), Alfie Beer (guitar, vocals), Jake Smith (bass) and Elik Eddy (drums).
While The Hope & Ruin stage was sparsely lit for much of Goodbye’s set, with only Sarah’s red guitar and its orange lead clearly visible at times, you couldn’t miss their impressive sound which filled the venue from their opening number ‘MEAT’. Their sound wistfully danced between melancholy melodies and dreamy, nostalgia-laced tunes. ‘Tolgus Wartha’ started with a beautiful soundscape before Megan and Sarah’s stunning vocals. Those outstanding vocals between Megan and Sarah were once again a key feature of Goodbye’s amazing sound. After the wall of sound on ‘Tolgus Wartha’, there was a change of pace and mood at the start of ‘Come Clean’ with the atmospheric, spacy synth. ‘Come Clean’, as with many in Goodbye’s set, was cleverly constructed as it rose, fell and rose again, with Elik’s drumming being key to these changes. The way that Megan’s voice effortlessly matched the changes in mood of the music, not only showed her range, but also how tuned in she was with the music. Megan’s vocals, her best yet, were up there with the best I’ve heard for a long time both in terms of quality and variety.
Goodbye played two new songs in their set. The first of which had only finished being written the previous night, as Alfie explained with a cooking metaphor. This freshly baked song featured a great bassline from Jake and soft almost whispered vocals from Megan. The next new song, ‘Waltz 13a’ again centred around the rich vocal harmonies of Megan and Sarah.
‘Benji’s Collar’ started with Megan’s soft vocals to Sarah’s guitar, before the song exploded a few bars in. The emotions in Megan’s voice with Sarah and Alfie on backing vocals was remarkable. Their final number ‘Take Time’ had a shoegaze feel as drummer Elik switched to shakers. Goodbye’s quality musicianship was again evident on the instrumental break of ‘Take Time’ as it subtly built, fell back and rose again.
There was a real buzz of excitement around The Hope & Ruin after a very special performance from Goodbye.
goodbye:
Megan Wheeler – vocals
Sarah Ryan – vocals, guitar, synth,
Alfie Beer – guitar, vocals
Jake Smith – bass
Elik Eddy – drums
goodbye setlist:
‘MEAT’
‘Tolgus Wartha’
‘Come Clean’
untitled
‘Waltz 13a’
‘Benji’s Collar’
‘Take Time’
Next up were Brighton four-piece Ladylike (stylised as ‘ladylike’), with their innovative and fresh mix of folk, post-rock and psychedelia. They are Georgia Butler on vocals and guitar with Archie Sagers on a six-string bass, Spencer Withey on synth and guitar and James Ely on drums.
Without any announcement, Ladylike opened with ‘Instr’, which I think caught some people by surprise thinking the band were still tuning up. This was in some way typical of Ladylike’s understated approach and slow build to many of their songs. ‘Instr’ started with just Georgia with her guitar before the others joined in on the track, and closed as it began with Georgia’s solo. With the crowd soon fully engaged early in their opening number, Ladylike played their first few songs without a break between each one. Within these tracks were clever and subtle changes in tempo and style. On some songs Georgia’s vocal had more of a folk style, while on others there was a more staccato clipped style to her singing.
On the instrumental sections, Georgia would wander around the stage playing, often side on or facing the drummer. But neither she, nor the band, lost the audience’s attention.
Their latest release and penultimate song, ‘Horse’s Mouth’ had that shoegaze sound, which was so easy to simply lose yourself in. Strong instrumental bursts between the mellower parts worked so well on this track, as did Spencer’s backing vocals often echoing Georgia’s lead. The track closed with bursts of sound from the band, who seemed to take their lead from Georgia’s bowing action, as if she was conducting them. Ladylike closed a very good set with ‘Sour Carol, I’, a soft beautiful song. Its synth effects added a moody almost haunting feel to the sound. Georgia played most of that closing number with a broken guitar string, not that anybody further back would have noticed from the quality sound from Ladylike.
ladylike:
Georgia Butler – vocal and guitar
Archie Sagers – bass
Spencer Withey – synth and guitar
James Ely – drums
ladylike setlist:
‘Instr’
‘See No Evil’
‘Rome in Prog’
‘Concrete’
‘Horse’s Mouth’ (a 2024 single release)
‘Sour Carol, I’
London-based five-piece Sunken headlined Hidden Herd’s show at The Hope & Ruin on Wednesday. Formed by siblings Poppy and Finn Billingham, Sunken blend grunge and dream-pop to create an immersive, ethereal sound. The band’s line up was completed with Jonah Winslet (drums), Clem Appleby (bass) and Finn Boxer (keyboards and synth).
Similar to Ladylike, who preceded them, Sunken started unannounced going straight into ‘Something Warm’ with a soundscape which developed into a very good shoegaze track with Poppy’s soft engaging vocals. On that opening number guitarist Finn added an experimental note with his guitar playing, which included adding some feedback. Their second song, and most recent single release ‘Friends’ continued the dream pop feel to the music and Poppy’s ethereal voice.
Sunken increased the tempo on ‘Nightcrawler’, on which Jonah’s drumming shone. The intro to ‘Sonic Angel’ had a Joy Division feel, with the drumming in particular reminiscent of Stephen Morris, before it soon became a shoegaze indie sound. A special shout out on this track needs to go out to Finn on keyboards and synths, who juggled playing three bits of kit simultaneously. He often played with his arms crossed over reaching across the keyboards and synth, as if playing a bizarre game of Twister.
There was an instrument changeover and short break due to a technical issue before ‘10K’, an indie sounding unreleased track. The musicians were back with their original instruments for the closing number. ‘He Really Gets Me’ started very differently than the rest of Sunken’s set with its heavier almost industrial sounding synth, while its guitars reminded me of The Murder Capital. Later it shifted to a gentle song with Poppy’s beautiful soft vocals expressing lots of emotion. The song’s haunting close was met with loud applause by The Hope & Ruin crowd, closing a very good set and great night of new music.
Sunken:
Poppy Billingham – vocals, bass
Finn Billingham – guitar
Jonah Winslet – drums
Clem Appleby – bass
Finn Boxer – keyboards, synth
Sunken setlist:
‘Something Warm’ ‘Friends’ (a 2024 single released)
‘Nightcrawler’
‘Sonic Angel’
‘10K’
‘He Really Gets Me’
You can catch more exciting up-and-coming bands and artists, by getting yourself along to the Hidden Herd new music discovery nights in Brighton. Their next shows are:
Lonnie Gunn + crysometimes + Sabiyha + Bekah Bossard at The Hope & Ruin on Wednesday 4th December
Cucamaras + Shady Baby + Oslo Twins + Wonderbug at The Hope & Ruin on Wednesday 29th January 2025
As well as Goo Records x Hidden Herd All-Dayer at The Hope and Ruin on Saturday 7th December
With tickets available HERE.
