OYAMA + SWALLOWTAIL – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 30.9.25
Headlining The Prince Albert on Tuesday were Icelandic band Oyama courtesy of promoters Melting Vinyl with support from Brighton based Swallowtail.
Oyama is a five-piece shoegaze/indie collective from Reykjavík who dropped their debut 6-track EP ‘I Wanna’ back in 2013. Their debut long-player, ‘Coolboy’, surfaced at the tailend of the following year. Then….nothing! Eventually a collection of a handful of tunes surfaced in April 2020, with two of these being remixes by other folk. Post covid and Oyama are certainly now back on track with a quintet of releases having appeared within the past 12 months, these being the ‘Cigarettes’ and ‘Painted Image’ singles ahead of their second full-length album ‘Everyone Left’. Their newest release is their ‘The Bookshop’ single which came out on 27th August.
The band comprise Júlía Hermannsdóttir (vocals, keyboards), Úlfur Alexander Einarsson (vocals, guitar), Ragnar Jón Hrólfsson (drums), Jón Þorsteinsson (bass) and Baldur Hjörleifsson (guitar) and they are in the UK for a selection 4-date jaunt that has featured a gig in London at The Finsbury on 27th September. Brighton is the second date and from here the quartet visit The Purple Turtle on 1st October, before returning back to London for a show at The Cavendish Arms on 3rd October.
Oyama are purveyors of “sleepy melodies which are wrapped in puffy clouds of noise and angsty peach fuzz” according to their Bandcamp page, so without further ado let’s get into their Prince Albert set.
Oyama opened with ‘Satisfied’ with its soft dreamy shoegaze-like sound and hypnotic drumming while the chorus got subtly louder. This sound along with very discreet and restrained shifts in tempo and volume were common features across their set. The dual vocals between Júlía and Úlfur, with their different pitches complementing each other, worked very well. Those vocals were more to the fore on ‘Cigarettes’ and ‘The Light’. The former had a 1990’s soft indie feel, with hints of rock on the instrumental break, while the latter started with Úlfur performing solo, before building to more of a soft rock sound.
After the most recent single ‘The Bookshop’ it was the more familiar sounds of The Cranberries song ‘Linger’, doing this classic song proud. There was a change in style with catchy up-tempo indie pop of ‘Sundried’ and ‘Silhouettes’, I was expecting people to be dancing and moving along more to those two songs in particular. Another shift saw a starker introduction on an old song ‘Handsome Devil’, before their soft sounds returned. The vocal harmonies again shone on the quieter parts of that song.
Their indie shoegaze sound featured strongly on their final two songs ‘She Fades Away’ and ‘Sweet Ride’. The dreamy sounds of ‘She Fades Away’ built well with its beautiful layers. ‘Sweet Ride’ reminded me of the early days of Lush, especially the vocals. There was an unexpected twist at the end of this closing song. The band had been almost stationary throughout the performance, but suddenly Úlfur climbed on the amp at the back of the stage playing with classic rock guitar poses, while Baldur made full use of the effects from the pedal board on a closing crescendo.
It was a pleasurable performance from Oyama, which the polite somewhat reserved audience seemed to have enjoyed. There may not have been rapturous cheering, but their clapping and smiles show they appreciated Oyama’s set.
Oyama:
Júlía Hermannsdóttir – vocals, keyboards
Úlfur Alexander Einarsson – vocals, guitar
Ragnar Jón Hrólfsson – drums
Jón Þorsteinsson – bass
Baldur Hjörleifsson – guitar
Oyama setlist:
‘Satisfied’ (from 2024 ‘Everyone Left’ album)
‘Painted Image’ (from 2024 ‘Everyone Left’ album)
‘Cigarettes’ (from 2024 ‘Everyone Left’ album)
‘The Light’ (from 2024 ‘Everyone Left’ album)
‘The Bookshop’ (a 2025 single)
‘Linger’ (unreleased)
‘Sundried’ (from 2024 ‘Everyone Left’ album)
‘Silhouettes’ (from 2024 ‘Everyone Left’ album)
‘Handsome Devil’ (from 2020 ‘Opaque Days’ EP)
‘She Fades Away’ (from 2024 ‘Everyone Left’ album)
‘Sweet Ride’ (from 2016 ‘Coolboy’ album)
The opening band of the evening was Swallowtail, a Brighton-based four-piece originally from Nottingham. They blend the fuzzy aspects of shoegaze with the intricate melodies of post-punk, creating an elegantly gritty soundscape. I was excited to see them again after catching their sets supporting Moon Idle at Alphabet and Velvetine at The Rossi Bar in July. Since those shows half the band has changed with Caleb Ryde (guitar) and Drew Vickerstaff (drums) being joined by new members making their Swallowtail live debut Lucy Darke (vocal, guitar) and Bella Sofia (bass). Introductions complete, onto the music.
There was a stark haunting start to Swallowtail’s opening number, ‘Thin’. The eeriness was helped by Celeb using a violin bow to play guitar and Drew softly tapping the cymbals. Over that dark sound sat Lucy’s contrasting lighter sweet vocals. ‘Thin’ exploded part way in when Celeb played more conventionally and Bella joined on bass. Two things were clear from that opening song. The juxtaposition between the noise levels of their often harsh sound and the sweetness in Lucy’s voice worked so well, and was for me a key highlight across their set. Secondly Drew’s drumming throughout the set was exceptional, even coping with a cymbal repair during that opening song.
After the moody atmospheric soundscape of ‘The Bathe’, a technical problem meant there was a change in the set order, as in their words, “Celeb’s pedalboard was a bit drunk”. Therefore, the next songs were new ones to Swallowtail’s set list ‘Jitter’ and ‘Idles’. The first of those ‘Jitter’ started with a great wall of sound. At times on that song, it was as if the guitar and drums answered each other, with bursts of one then the other. Above this soared the angelic vocals, adjusting effortlessly as the noise levels increased. ‘Idles’ had a different arrangement with more space for Lucy’s vocals. The emotion in her voice cut through the noise so well.
As the pedalboard had sobered up, Swallowtail went back to play ‘Drench’. It had a softer sound, which built well, while there was a more mystical feel to the vocals. ‘Squeel’ featured loud distorted guitars and even faster drums. Once again, the divergence between the starkness of their music and the sweetness of the vocals contrasted perfectly, without conflicting.
Swallowtail closed a wonderful opening set with ‘Time Sig’. Again, the bow to play the guitar at the start gave it the slow menacing sound of a horror film. The music rose and fell back throughout, and Lucy’s vocals ranged from light and sweet through to soaring to later soft choral chanting, the latter adding to the haunting darkness of the song. It was a wonderful way to close a very impressive performance by Swallowtail.
You can catch Swallowtail at Hidden Herd’s new music discovery night on Friday 10th October, grab your tickets HERE.
Swallowtail:
Caleb Ryde – guitar
Lucy Darke – vocal, guitar
Bella Sofia – bass
Drew Vickerstaff – drums
Swallowtail setlist:
‘Thin’ (unreleased)
‘The Bathe’ (unreleased)
‘Jitter’ (unreleased)
‘Idles’ (unreleased)
‘Drench (Armet)’ (unreleased)
‘Squeel’ (unreleased)
‘Time Sig’ (unreleased)
