THE HORRORS – RESIDENT, BRIGHTON 22.3.25
Yesterday The Horrors released their magnificent sixth studio album, ‘Night Life’, via Fiction Records. Alongside the album release the band also dropped a new single which is titled ‘LA Runaway’, you can check it out HERE.
Amazing as it may sound, The Horrors actually formed 20 years ago in Southend-On-Sea. It’s been an interesting journey to say the least, with twists and turns in image and music styles. Emerging as zeitgeist-shaking garage-goths on their 2007 debut ‘Strange House’, before taking a sharp left turn for their Mercury-nominated follow up ‘Primary Colours’, since the beginning they’ve roamed freely between genres. 2011’s ‘Skying’ won the NME Award for Best Album; ‘V’ was heralded as “a triumph” in a five-star Guardian review, while 2021’s pair of EPs – ‘Lout’ and ‘Against The Blade’ – marked a new chapter with their most industrial, uncompromising output yet.
‘Night Life’ sees them shapeshift into a new form, with a new sonic outlook and a new line up centred around the core duo of vocalist Faris Badwan and bassist Rhys Webb, now joined by Amelia Kidd on keys and Telegram’s Jordan Cook on drums, making the new album the band’s first to not feature all 5 original members. While demos began modestly in Rhys Webb’s basement flat in North London with the pair thriving on the immediacy of, as Faris describes, “shortening the distance between having an idea and expressing it”, the record truly took shape in LA under the guidance of producer Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Blondshell) before finishing touches were applied back in London along with guitarist Josh Hayward, with Kidd bouncing parts and production ideas remotely from Glasgow.
‘Night Life’ is a record of weight and space, of melancholy and euphoria; a record that has the ability to make bedfellows of seemingly disparate ideas as only The Horrors can. The ‘Night Life’ here is not the vim and vigour of pubs and clubs. It’s the thoughts that happen under the cover of darkness; the places your mind takes you when the rest of the world is asleep. A record born out of a desire to revive the raw, instinctive spirit of the band’s early work.
To celebrate the release of the new album The Horrors are playing a series of instore dates across the UK this month, which kicked off on Thursday at a packed-out Banquet Records at Pryzm in Kingston, followed by a set at Rough Trade East in London for album release day. Today is the turn for local fans with the band rockin’ on up to Resident Records in the heart of North Laine in Kensington Gardens. These shows come ahead of a string of Spanish and Portuguese dates. Full live date details can be found below.
We arrive at Resident and dutifully join the queue which stretches along Kensington Gardens and there is a mood of pure anticipation in the air as we can hear the band soundchecking. The doors finally open 30 minutes after they were meant to and the full capacity fans briskly make their way inside the store, with each jostling for the best position available to them, and await the arrival of The Horrors.
The event was advertised as a stripped down set and so the only equipment we can see is a Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12 Polyphonic Synthesizer sat atop the counter along with a presets unit by the side of it. There’s a sound desk around the corner as well, plus a bass guitar is added to the sound and that’s it. Unlike last night’s set by Welly (Review HERE) where there was the full ceiling lighting on the go, this evening, the mood is set with just one of the four aisles being lit prior to the band’s arrival and the flickering of tealight candles and a large candle, which are also on the shop counter. The mood is set and the door behind the counter opens and out trot bassist Rhys Webb, keyboardist Amelia Kidd and the towering frontman Faris Badwan. They are all dressed in black. Amelia remains behind the counter whilst the two lads stand out front on top of a raised platform and at 7:22pm they begin their seven tune 41 minute taster set with the keys intro and booming beat of ‘Mirror’s Image’ which is found on 2009’s ‘Primary Colours’ album. Faris begins…“Is it the way; Is it the way she looks at you?” and the various aged punters begin lapping it up. On completion, Faris states “Thank you, you can really see the whites of your eyes!”.
Their second selection is the first of three cuts from the new ‘Night Life’ album, this being ‘The Silence That Remains’ which has a skippy beat and sees Amelia on backing vocals. Faris’ vocals are echoey as he wades his way through…“Walking the length of the city; Like a child; Waiting for the call; Searching the streets for directions; The endless life; Emotion never shown…”.
Song three starts with a preset drumbeat and then Rhys’ bass kicks in and suddenly I realise it’s the excellent ‘Who Can Say’, the second cut tonight from their 2009 ‘Primary Colours’ album…“And when I told her I didn’t love her anymore; She cried…”. After which it was back to the new album again with the arrival of ‘More Than Life’ with its swirly synth intro and booming beat. Faris sings “Are we losing touch; With all the things we care about…” and I note his vocals and indeed the tune don’t sound a million miles away from The Sisters Of Mercy or Clan Of Xymox.
Although the set has been enjoyable thus far, it’s at this point where things go up a notch (or two) with the arrival of ‘Still Life’ from 2011’s ‘Skying’ album, which as a stripped back tune sounds different from the recorded version, but there’s lashings of slow electronic drumbeats and swirly synth action going on. “Under a sky, no one sees; Waiting watching it happening…”. This is the best track so far…until….Amelia kicks in a ‘Blue Monday’ style intro beat and then Vangelis sounding keys and fans realise it’s a reworking of ‘Sea Within A Sea’, the final selection from 2009’s ‘Primary Colours’ album. It’s going down very well and then at the midpoint when the song’s signature keys riffs kick in, there are quite a number of “whoops!” from the crowd. “Some say we walk alone; Barefoot on wicked stone, no light; And sanctuary found never waits around awhile”. Not surprisingly on its completion, it received the loudest seal of approval thus far.
The set draws to a close with ‘Lotus Eater’ from the new ‘Night Life’ album. It’s my standout track of the disc, which I purchased yesterday at the Welly gig, and thus giving me 24 hours to listen to the album before seeing them live tonight. Amelia sets the booming beat and this is the most danceable tune of their set. “If the world should end today; We’ve spent too much time; Worrying about yesterday…”. I’m half expecting some serious club mixes of this track to arrive within the next few months. Just when I thought that the trio couldn’t do any better than with ‘Sea Within A Sea’, they’ve only gone and topped it with ‘Lotus Eater’, which tonight has the vibe of New Order and Bernard Sumner’s Electronic. A fabulous way to end my fourth encounter with The Horrors. It’s 8:03pm and that’s our lot, except for queuing for some time to get our purchases signed, that is! Mind you we were certainly entertained (whilst queuing) by decent quality music from The Horrors manager’s mixtape, which included The Sisters Of Mercy ‘Alice’, Nitzer Ebb ‘Join In The Chant’, The Neon Judgement ‘The Fashion Party’ and Crash Course In Science ‘Jump Over Barrels’ to namedrop just four. In fact, I was enjoying it so much, I was even contemplating moving to the very end of the queue!
The Horrors:
Faris Badwan – lead vocals
Rhys Webb – bass
Amelia Kidd – keys, backing vocals
Jordan Cook – drums (not present tonight)
The Horrors setlist:
‘Mirror’s Image’ (from 2009 ‘Primary Colours’ album)
‘The Silence That Remains’ (from 2025 ‘Night Life’ album)
‘Who Can Say’ (from 2009 ‘Primary Colours’ album)
‘More Than Life’ (from 2025 ‘Night Life’ album)
‘Still Life’ (from 2011 ‘Skying’ album)
‘Sea Within A Sea’ (from 2009 ‘Primary Colours’ album)
‘Lotus Eater’ (from 2025 ‘Night Life’ album)
Catch The Horrors if you can, you won’t regret it….
THE HORRORS FORTHCOMING LIVE DATES:
Sun 23rd Mar – Rough Trade, Bristol (Instore)
Tue 25th Mar – Rough Trade Liverpool (Instore)
Wed 26th Mar – Piccadilly, Night & Day Cafe, Manchester (Instore)
Thu 27th Mar – Crash, Brudenell Social Club, Leeds (Instore)
3rd April – Sala Capitol, Santiago de Compostela
5th April – Barcelona Psych Fest, Paral-lel 62, Barcelona
6th April – Sala Mon, Madrid
7th April – Sala Moon, Valencia
9th April – Hard Club, Porto
10th April – Republica Da Musica, Lisbon
23rd May – A Stone’s Throw Festival, Newcastle
24th/25th May – Dot To Dot Festival (Headline)
27th June Sofia Live Festival, Bulgaria on
12th July Siren Festival, Santa Severa Italy
6th Sept Misty Fields, Netherlands
www.thehorrors.co.uk
