TROYKA - Live at the Hot House, Morecambe
February 28th, 2015
As I approach the venue, a lovingly restored Victorian show house in the heart of Morecambe, West End, the stormy weather sets a scene of moody melancholia. After listening to ornithophobia (perhaps a little too zealously) none stop for the past 24 hours, something about the mood just feels right.
The venue has been set up beautifully for the evening, a cosy, intimate and seated affair, each table adorned with a single candle, providing a comfortable warm glow that compliments the modest stage lighting perfectly.
People begin to file in from around 7:30, as the crowd slowly begins to fill the room, the ambience is clearly infectious, a relaxed atmosphere takes hold as the tables become surrounded by people, there aren't enough to accommodate everybody party separately, but that isn't a problem. United by their love of the craft, strangers become best of friends for the evening, swapping stories and contemplative musings towards the nights entertainment to come.
By 8 o'clock, the room is in full swing, craft ales and red wines adorn the tables of my fellow show goers, as the soft ambient music fades for the final time, Ben (the organiser of tonight's entertainment) announces the arrival of supporting act Yesa Sikyi, a jazz sextet composing of a much more traditional outfit than the likes of Troyka, Trumpets, Saxophones and a bass guitar being the weapons of choice, accompanied by the obligatory virtuoso drumming and Hammond style synth tones, so routinely attributed to that classic jazz sound.
Musically, I found no fault in the performance delivered by Yesa Sikyi, however the performance itself was just a tad lacklustre, chemistry was clearly present between members, though not enough was directed towards us, the eager audience. This “just the right amount of awkward” vibe was easily forgiven and even overshadowed by the musical prowess demonstrated by the group, Morecambe is a long way from home for these guys, so a level of uncertainty was to be expected.
Yesa Sikyi provide a solid 45 minutes of entertainment, composed of all the shuffled beats and improv solo's you would expect, and some rather tasty grooves from the 5 string Bass, after a quick thank you, they begin lugging their equipment of the stage to make way for the headline act. Troyka.
The 15 minutes following Yesa Sikyi's departure from the stage cued a stampede to the bar, with punters eager to replenish their glasses in preparation for the moment we've all been waiting for, as Chris, Kit and Josh take to the stage to begin some final checks before their set, a renewed level of vigour sweeps the room.
9.00pm
The first thing to hit me about Troyka is the sheer level of technical skill and precision contributing the flawless live recreation of Ornithophobia (the title track of their touring album), there is some excellent use of feedback and noise, laced with buckets of 'casual shredding' from Chris (guitar) and his Fender Start. Kit Downes (keys) demonstrates the virtuoso talent that earned him a Mercury nomination from the outset, all driven by Joshua's (Percussion) amazing prowess behind a kit.
Yes it has to be said, the trio know their craft, and they know it well.
I'd like to say that they were natural performers, but halfway into Life Was Transient I realise that the presence and chemistry presented by the three comes not from a desire to put on a show, but simply from a deep love and excitement towards the music they are playing, they are clearly having a whale of a time playing for us, and it's so clear that it becomes infectious!
Just shy of midway through the set, and we are treated to Crawler, Troykas “attempt” (in Chris' words) at blues. I can only assume they hit the target, because the whole room seems captivated by the psychedelic trip that is crawler, taking on the musical equivalent of a drug induced stupor, a perfect accompaniment to a night of experimental progressive music and ale!
Amongst the many sonic delights brought to the table, perhaps the most interesting was the gung ho performance of a song recently written by Kit whilst on tour, Race The Sun. A premature (albeit needless) apology was delivered for any possible botch ups during the performance, though evidently none were made as the track seemed to go down without a hitch!
Finally, the evening draws to a close, with the final song being Magpies. I've been waiting for this all night, being that it's my favourite track from Ornithophobia. As the sampled intro kicks in, some nifty live glitching leads us into the riff fuelled dissonance carnival that is Magpies. This is the only part of the night that I felt let down by, the heavy breakdowns in Magpies just didn't seem to punch as hard as they did on the studio version, though I had a feeling that the modest EV PA system supplied by the venue, while perfectly up to scratch, just couldn't replicate the crushing synthetic low end of some of the bassier tracks, such as Magpies. Though if I'm perfectly honest, it only served to confirm that I would definitely travel to see Troyka perform again, hopefully on a much larger sound system.
I'm not sure that the turnout was quite what Troyka expected, as the crowd, while dotted with the odd clear lover of all things jazzy, almost seemed to consist of people looking for an alternative to a night on the tiles, rather than the sole intent of enjoying some electro jazz madness!
Having said that, I couldn't see a single person who didn't seem to be enjoying the big room sound coming from this three piece trio of mad scientists.
Reviewed by Douglas Mottershead
The venue has been set up beautifully for the evening, a cosy, intimate and seated affair, each table adorned with a single candle, providing a comfortable warm glow that compliments the modest stage lighting perfectly.
People begin to file in from around 7:30, as the crowd slowly begins to fill the room, the ambience is clearly infectious, a relaxed atmosphere takes hold as the tables become surrounded by people, there aren't enough to accommodate everybody party separately, but that isn't a problem. United by their love of the craft, strangers become best of friends for the evening, swapping stories and contemplative musings towards the nights entertainment to come.
By 8 o'clock, the room is in full swing, craft ales and red wines adorn the tables of my fellow show goers, as the soft ambient music fades for the final time, Ben (the organiser of tonight's entertainment) announces the arrival of supporting act Yesa Sikyi, a jazz sextet composing of a much more traditional outfit than the likes of Troyka, Trumpets, Saxophones and a bass guitar being the weapons of choice, accompanied by the obligatory virtuoso drumming and Hammond style synth tones, so routinely attributed to that classic jazz sound.
Musically, I found no fault in the performance delivered by Yesa Sikyi, however the performance itself was just a tad lacklustre, chemistry was clearly present between members, though not enough was directed towards us, the eager audience. This “just the right amount of awkward” vibe was easily forgiven and even overshadowed by the musical prowess demonstrated by the group, Morecambe is a long way from home for these guys, so a level of uncertainty was to be expected.
Yesa Sikyi provide a solid 45 minutes of entertainment, composed of all the shuffled beats and improv solo's you would expect, and some rather tasty grooves from the 5 string Bass, after a quick thank you, they begin lugging their equipment of the stage to make way for the headline act. Troyka.
The 15 minutes following Yesa Sikyi's departure from the stage cued a stampede to the bar, with punters eager to replenish their glasses in preparation for the moment we've all been waiting for, as Chris, Kit and Josh take to the stage to begin some final checks before their set, a renewed level of vigour sweeps the room.
9.00pm
The first thing to hit me about Troyka is the sheer level of technical skill and precision contributing the flawless live recreation of Ornithophobia (the title track of their touring album), there is some excellent use of feedback and noise, laced with buckets of 'casual shredding' from Chris (guitar) and his Fender Start. Kit Downes (keys) demonstrates the virtuoso talent that earned him a Mercury nomination from the outset, all driven by Joshua's (Percussion) amazing prowess behind a kit.
Yes it has to be said, the trio know their craft, and they know it well.
I'd like to say that they were natural performers, but halfway into Life Was Transient I realise that the presence and chemistry presented by the three comes not from a desire to put on a show, but simply from a deep love and excitement towards the music they are playing, they are clearly having a whale of a time playing for us, and it's so clear that it becomes infectious!
Just shy of midway through the set, and we are treated to Crawler, Troykas “attempt” (in Chris' words) at blues. I can only assume they hit the target, because the whole room seems captivated by the psychedelic trip that is crawler, taking on the musical equivalent of a drug induced stupor, a perfect accompaniment to a night of experimental progressive music and ale!
Amongst the many sonic delights brought to the table, perhaps the most interesting was the gung ho performance of a song recently written by Kit whilst on tour, Race The Sun. A premature (albeit needless) apology was delivered for any possible botch ups during the performance, though evidently none were made as the track seemed to go down without a hitch!
Finally, the evening draws to a close, with the final song being Magpies. I've been waiting for this all night, being that it's my favourite track from Ornithophobia. As the sampled intro kicks in, some nifty live glitching leads us into the riff fuelled dissonance carnival that is Magpies. This is the only part of the night that I felt let down by, the heavy breakdowns in Magpies just didn't seem to punch as hard as they did on the studio version, though I had a feeling that the modest EV PA system supplied by the venue, while perfectly up to scratch, just couldn't replicate the crushing synthetic low end of some of the bassier tracks, such as Magpies. Though if I'm perfectly honest, it only served to confirm that I would definitely travel to see Troyka perform again, hopefully on a much larger sound system.
I'm not sure that the turnout was quite what Troyka expected, as the crowd, while dotted with the odd clear lover of all things jazzy, almost seemed to consist of people looking for an alternative to a night on the tiles, rather than the sole intent of enjoying some electro jazz madness!
Having said that, I couldn't see a single person who didn't seem to be enjoying the big room sound coming from this three piece trio of mad scientists.
Reviewed by Douglas Mottershead
Troyka are touring right now with their newest album, Ornithophobia. Go to www.troyka.co.uk to find out more about when and where you can check them out!
To read our review of Ornithophobia click on the album cover.
To read our review of Ornithophobia click on the album cover.
