PVA – RESIDENT, BRIGHTON 15.10.22
Saturday’s National Album Day saw PVA play a selection of reimagined tunes from their debut album ‘BLUSH’ at Resident music in store in Kensington Gardens, Brighton.
I discovered PVA almost by accident at the ‘Wide Awake Festival’ in Brockwell Park, South London last year, when wandering between bands. Their indie dance sound needed further investigation. By the end of their set, which I admit I stumbled across, I was very impressed.
PVA are another of the many bands from South London’s live scene. Unlike many of their compatriots, their music bridges electronic dance with the indie post-punk live sound normally associated with the Brixton scene. PVA are fronted by Ella Harris with Josh Baxter (who shares vocals, synths) and Louis Satchell (on drums and percussion).
Back to the Resident instore on Saturday evening. The counter at Resident was filled with numerous bits of electronic musical kit. On offer we had a Hydrasynth Keyboard made by Ashun Sound Machines (ASM), a BeatStep Pro – Arturia (controller, performance sequencer and composing tool), a Software Bass Line synthesizer by Roland, a Vonyx PSS302 Vocalist PA System, Roland Drum Pads, a Korg Prologue synthesizer, a Syntakt Drum Computer and Synthesizer by Elektron, a Fender Guitar, and even a compact mixing desk was placed on the corner of the counter.
Ella was taking care of lead vocals and alternating between the Korg keyboard and the Fender guitar, Louis on drum pads and backing vocals, and Josh was on vocals and on everything else!
The record shop’s lighting was dimmed at 6:50pm ready for PVA’s arrival. A few minutes later the band entered, with Josh walking into the mic stand on his way to the array of keyboards and synths at the northern end of the counter.
At the outset Ella explained that the performance was going to be “an experimental reimagining” of tracks from their new album to fit the in store format without a full drum kit, therefore it wasn’t going to be as loud as a normal concert with the full drum kit.
The first song of their set was a reworked version of ‘Transit’ from their new album. It had a slow start and built up in tempo as the song progressed. The dance beats noticeably stepped up on the second song of the set, ‘Hero Man’, the lead single from ‘BLUSH’. With Ella dancing along as she sang, the crowd also became more animated moving along to the music.
The next track, ‘Seven’ Ella introduced as being “mellow and tender” and a bit different from their usual sound. The track on the album includes backing vocals from Tony Njoku. A sample of his vocals was played in this song, and they announced he would be joining them on tour in a few weeks’ time, when they play Chalk. Details on that can be found HERE.
Surprisingly, in a five song set to launch their new album, PVA did a cover of Big Thief’s ‘Not’. They explained that they’d recently played it in a session at the famous Maida Vale studio and decided to keep it in their set. Louis shared the vocals with Ella, (rather than Josh, who usually takes on this role). They did admit that they weren’t totally sure of the lyrics, so would be reading them from their phones. Although it sounded good, reading off their phone did give it a bit of a karaoke feel.
The short set was finished with the last track on ‘BLUSH’, ‘Soap’. It was another reworking of the album track. Even if the Prague String Orchestra, who appear on the album, had been available, there wouldn’t have been room in Resident for them. After a false start to this song, take two (a much extended version compared to the album) was a good conclusion to PVA’s set, which finished circa 7:25pm.
During the performance, Ella explained that she felt like she was losing her voice after the previous night album launch party in London. Thankfully it held out to the end of our performance in Resident on Saturday. (Unfortunately for the band and fans in the West Country, PVA had to postpone the following night’s in store in Bristol.)
Despite the late start, meaning some people had to leave before the end in order to get to other gigs in the city, I thought their experimental reimagined set worked well. In stores do give a different insight into a band’s music. Although it had to be toned down from their usual dance sounds, it was interesting to see this side of PVA. Thankfully, I won’t have too long to wait for PVA’s more up-tempo dance tracks live, as they’re touring the album this month.
You can catch PVA, when they will be back in Brighton at Chalk on Wednesday 26th October. Ticket available from HERE and HERE.
PVA are:
Ella Harris – vocals, keyboard and guitar
Josh Baxter – synths, keyboard and production
Louis Satchell – drums and percussion
PVA setlist:
‘Transit’ (rework) (original version on 2022 ‘Blush’ album)
‘Hero Man’ (from 2022 ‘Blush’ album)
‘Seven’ (from 2022 ‘Blush’ album)
‘Not’ (Big Thief cover)
‘Soap’ (rework) (original version on 2022 ‘Blush’ album)
Find out more about PVA HERE.
After this performance the Brighton & Hove News Music Team frequented the Concorde 2 in order to catch the TOP LEFT CLUB playing live. Read our review HERE. After that, we went to the Brighton Centre to watch Richard Ashcroft playing live. Read that account HERE.
