Yuck @ Norwich Arts Centre
This combination of bands complimented each other beautifully
With their new album Stranger Things released February of this year, four-piece indie rock band Yuck filled Norwich Arts Centre, bringing us the overwhelming realisation that this is a band well suited to playing live.
First support act Box of Light, one of Norwich’s own beach pop bands, had an incredibly energetic lead singer who set the tone for the rest of the evening, especially in You Try and their last song Gone Forever. However, I wish that a good 70% of the reason I liked this band wasn’t because of the bassist’s silver glittery bass, but honestly, this won me over.
Providing a highlight of the night in the form of indie pop with a bit of psychedelic rock thrown in was four-piece Soda Fabric that gave an incredible performance of alluring guitar and synths, completely overshadowing the singing.
All good so far. Quietly stepping onto the stage and charming the crowd by saying that it was one of their favourite venues, Yuck kicked off their set. Whilst the songs performed by lead vocalist and guitarist Max Bloom seemed to merge into one dreamy, shoegaze, fuzz rock coalescence, those sung by bassist Mariko Do particularly captured my attention, and allowed for a refreshing contrast between the lyrics and the heavy guitar playing. Her voice, creating that beautiful balance, seemed to exist in a flicker between the heavy guitar playing and the softer percussion that clearly showed the shoegaze influences. In spite of this, hits from their new album such as Hold me Closer and Hearts in Motion gleamed and the crowd reciprocated the energy fully.
Having not been to a gig at the Arts Centre for quite some time, this combination of bands complimented each other beautifully and transcended anything I could have expected from a night of indie music.
