Music / Garage rock
Review: Drenge, SWX
Over the course of their life span, Drenge have constantly been evolving. Emerging as a garaged tinged two-piece the Loveless brother’s first album was positively contagious, earning their reputation as a ferociously intelligent pair creating an urgent and raucous noise.
Coming back two years later with Undertow and the pair had grown a new limb, the addition of a bass that polished them down, refining their sound and adding an echoing and sprawling dimension to their sinister tone.
is needed now More than ever
Now, another four years later the boys appear, synth in tow, as a four-piece and their musical horizons have only broadened as a result. Strange Creatures represents their most eclectic and ambitious record to date that dances between genres, touching on eerie and aggressive spoken word as easily as spooky 70’s synths.
The band themselves appear to have also gone through some changes. Gone are the boiler suits, hand painted banners and novelty raffles of last year’s Grand reopening tour, instead, replaced with suits, Old Skool Vans and a slightly more serious sense of purpose.
Opening with the experimental storytelling of Prom Night the room quiets as Eoin softly recounts an event ending in tragedy, a saxophone drawing out the last half of the track with nostalgic orchestrations. Continuing on into Bonfire of the City Boys the crowd’s impatience is rewarded with unnerving and chaotic riffs driven by an energetic and dystopian tirade.
With each of their albums existing in a sonically separate space, it’s impressive that the setlist slides with ease between the highlights of each. The soft melancholy of Fuckabout is greeted with a sing-a-long while Bloodsports turns the crowd to violent thrashing.
The pace is wholly unrelenting and the brothers barely provide any chance to rest, with new tracks This Dance and Strange Creatures receiving the same energy and reception as favourites, The Woods and People in Love Make Me Feel Luck.
Drenge have yet to stop evolving into different and unique musical creatures and their performance on this tour was a compliment to their past that also looked excitedly on towards their future.
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