Haus
+ Support from LOYAL
@ Soup Kitchen, Manchester
7/2/18 7pm
Words: Victoria Hicks
London-based band, Haus, have brought their ‘Own Blood Tour’ to Manchester’s Northern Quarter. They have just released their new single ‘Shameless’ (apparently the first of many tracks to come this year) and have also been added to the huge ‘Y Not?’ Festival line-up.
The show gets off to a bit of a late start, but these things happen in the music industry.
Support band LOYAL have the tricky job of warming the crowd up on this freezing February night. Their set starts off slow, with their ambient, electronic melodies floating around the basement of Soup Kitchen. They are similar to New York band, Cults, who I reviewed at the Deaf Institute a couple of weeks ago. What both bands did, that I liked, was put a lot of EQ and echo effects onto the vocals, and with the vocal range of both Madeline Follin (Cults) and Beth Molly Moore (LOYAL) being high, this ended up working so well. LOYAL have managed to pull the crowd together, and whilst their music may not be the liveliest, it is still very pleasing to stand and listen to. The bass drum that LOYAL have is so powerful that the wall behind me is vibrating. They have a dreamy, indie sound, which when mixed with just a pinch of electronics and samples, forms this whole new genre and brings a new atmosphere to the gig.
‘Who’s ready for a little boogie?’, says Beth Molly Moore, cheekily smiling at the crowd. There is almost a trance element to their music tonight, especially in their song ‘Moving As One’, which definitely gets the crowd swaying along.
Haus now have their turn to fill Soup Kitchen’s basement with their music, which is in the same strain of genre as LOYAL, but with more rock thrown into the mix. If you switched the vocalists around, they could definitely pull off each other’s songs so easily. Maybe that could be a future collaboration idea?
Vocalist Ashley Mulimba has pretty much perfected the tortured wails that a lot of indie-rock bands adopt, but he does it just enough to create the appropriate effect and not too much that it starts to sound screechy and out of key. Technical difficulties mean that Manchester is getting a special, mixed up version of their setlist tonight, and Haus are managing it like professionals. They’re here to have fun and won’t let a dodgy laptop ruin their show.
‘Put your hands together for us, Manny!’ shouts Ashley, as he pumps his first in the air. One thing I’ve noticed about Haus tonight, is that each member really feels the music. They get into the rhythm of it and their enjoyment for performing really comes across.
Haus continue to keep the crowd entertained, by igniting the long standing rivalry Manchester has to Leeds; ‘You don’t want to come second place to (the crowd at) Leeds?’ shouts Ashley.
‘Say What You Say’ and ‘Shameless’ are two of the stand out tracks tonight. They have so much more body and meaning to them when you watch Haus perform them live. Their set tonight has been enjoyable and interesting for me, as a new listener to Haus. I can really see why they have done so well in their genre. They all work together, support each other and most importantly have fun with the music. Be sure to check out ‘Shameless’ on Spotify and keep a close eye on what’s to come for Haus.
Tags: Access All Areas / haus / review