Music > Live Reviews

MAGNOLIA, FEMME DÉ & YER BLOOZE

Norwich Arts Centre

18/01/25

Thanks to Mr Jason and Norm’s, my first gig of 2025 (and for a whole 28 days!?!) is three of Norwich!s brightest at the Arts Centre. 

From my pre-gig research, openers YER BLOOZE is the project of multi-instrumentalist Dylan Clarke. Tonight, he is providing vox and guitar and has recruited a drummer, keyboard player, bassist and guitarist to deliver his vision. fronting five piece. Despite the name - taken from the Lennon song on the White Album, Yer Blooze is neither bluesy nor Beatlesesque. The first song is reminiscent of recent Swans’ more mellow moments, with a touch of indie-jangle about Clarke’s guitar. The following number brings to mind the vocal post-rock of the late 90s and 2000s of the (perhaps criminally, mostly forgotten) likes of Hope of the States, Strange Death of Liberal England and My Latest Novel or maybe that is just me… Throughout the set, there are references to Mogwai, Cinerama, GY!BE without the strings and even Crazy Horse circa Arc/Weld. It is all very promising and something I look forward to checking out again but tonight’s showing was no better than okay. 

I’ve seen FEMME DÉ a fair few times, at the Waterfront Studio, the old and new Voodoo’s and the (excellent) Washing Machine/Hunter Club in Bury St Edmunds, but I’ve not seen them at NAC. I love Femme Dé’s fiery mix of punk, hardcore, riot grrl and the faster, less polished end of grunge and they’re the main draw for me tonight. And, great as their performance is, as good as the songs are, from where I am stood the sound is a touch disappointing. I jut can’t hear Clem’s vocals. It’s a bit of letdown and all the more odd because the sound at NAC is normally superb. Whatever, they still put on a cracking show and I am almost certainly being too picky. Roll on 15th February when they’ll be playing with Rad Pitt, Queen Dogs and more at the Hunter Club. 

And so to MAGNOLIA, who, despite forming less than three years ago, are one of the most inventive - some might say challenging - bands on the scene. The seven piece have a chaotic sound that is like early Laibach colliding with Swans and Silver Mt Zion, before falling down a flight of stairs into The Pop Group having a mass brawl with Cardiacs. Easy listening this is not. Unlike all of those bands - except Cardiacs - Magnolia look like they’re having an absolute RIOT on stage. Intense and noisy it may is but there is a groove and by heck it is FUN. Just as joyous as - but very different to - Ezra Collective or The Comet Is Coming, I guess the closest contemporary comparison is Opus Kink but without the dark and sleazy underbelly. As things stand, my only slight concern is that the chaos seems to take precedence over the song but the crowd love it and I come away exhausted but happy.