Tonight Glasgow’s hipster elite have one of those rarest of rarest opportunities, an ‘all nighter’ at everyone’s favourite arts centre, the CCA.
It is, you would imagine, something those of a plaid shirt variety and a indoor ‘headgear’ persuasion should be jumping for a sort of joy for.
It is therefore a tad disappointing that, by the time I show up, there is only a handful of people in the CCA’s relatively small gym like venue room.
Peaking Lights head the bill for such devilish all night festivities, the married American noise pop dub duo on tour in support of latest LP, Cosmic Logic.
Indra Dunis and Aaron Coyes return to their Peaking Lights moniker following a two year gap from the well received Lucifer, with Coyes at times dabbling in side projects of his own.
Jaakko Eino Kalevi has long been regarded one of Finland’s brightest musical sparks, releasing a whole host of material over the last few years, which you would do well to find on these shores.
It should seem as though Helsinki native Kalevi has decided this is the year to treat the rest of the world to his dreamy and otherworldly soundscapes, and on the back of last year’s Dreamzone EP release he has the support slot.
His set opens with a loud somewhat dulling tone, a single harsh tone repeated for around a minute, which fittingly, later also closes Kalevi’s contribution to the night.
Appearing on stage armed only with pedals and synths alongside a trusty drummer, Kalevi spouts a certain awkwardness on stage, tall and gangly he intentionally skews his instrument so to not directly face the for the moment threadbare ‘crowd’.
Following the opening harsh tone repetition a sound builds not all that far away from a Faris Badwan completely chucking all guitars out the window, which is no bad thing.
It is later in the set though that Helsinki’s favourite tram driver really comes in to his own and threatens to upstage tonight’s main act with a fantastic blend of all that is bewitching, hazy and ethereal.
‘Memories’ is the perfect example of Kalevi’s talents and the slow beauty of the track is wonderfully recreated for the CCA, people unlikely to have ever heard it are seen swaying side to side as Kalevi and his drummer deliver a master class in weird psych pop.
More numbers have started to gather by now, although with the once sparse crowd growing Kalevi maintains an unassuming almost nervy look, constantly turning to twist or switch some gizmo or other on his apparatus.
Following some 80s TV piano theme tune inspired beats he offers his first interaction to the relatively quiet attendees saying thanks following some cheers of encouragement.
Most of the set sounds rooted in the 80s as ‘No End’ is preceded by various beat and bops which could only be related to as sounding very 8-bit Nintendo.
‘No End’ again showcases the Finn’s capability for ethereal beauty as he flits in and out from channeling Faris Badwan to childlike melodic falsetto as pre-recorded sax nestles in the background.
‘Flexible Heart’ with its fantastical looping beat at its core and an outro not too dissimilar to early Human League has the growing crowds attention as we witness possibly yet another star in the making.
Peaking Lights take to the stage after a short interval, again stage presence is limited to two on stage although the duo do not boast a drum kit, instead Aaron Coyes mans a massive battle station of a rig, while other half Indra Dunis occasionally tweaks said battle station.
Pretty early on into proceedings Dunis warns those in attendance they have a lot of new songs to get through, one of which is the reggae flavoured ‘Breakdown’, which helps introduce us to some of the bands newer “sunnier” efforts.
Accompanied by a backdrop of cartoon illustrations in various, shall we say, compromising positions ‘Breakdown’ swims along nicely, Dunis sings wistfully about just leaving it all behind: “breakdown, wanna break free from all that haunts me”.
This, along with ‘Telephone Call’ prove to be highlights from the latest album, however it is during ‘Telephone Call’ that the first instance of sound issues become apparent.
Six or so numbers in not only has the base reached new levels of piercing it is not necessarily in a good way, and at times it is uncomfortable to listen to; however sound discomfort is further exacerbated by Dunis’ vocals being placed so high in the mix.
On record, Peaking Lights have always made a point of burying vocals deep in the depths of the mix, so as to not overshadow the dubbed out psychedelica on offer.
This aural discomfort is replaced by an untimely (or should that be timely) fire alarm which it quickly becomes clear ain’t no drill.
So, like any other sane persons, we wait patiently and watch fire engine after fire engine turn up, while basking in the glory of nearby Campus’ selection of pop classics, which shall remain nameless.
When we are eventually permitted to return we find the Peaking Lights duo in a mini soundcheck going through a medley of beats and grooves.
Hope is there that such an exercise may see a variation on sound levels and initially these wishes seem to have come true.
As following the emergency sound check we are treated to a much older number from the back catalogue of the band, which transforms the atmosphere in the room, weaving synthetic lines are fused with a slow trippy backtrack that recalls the bizarre acid house phase of the likes of the Prodigy.
This mood lapse is however cut far too short and we quickly return to newer material that has the vocals strained out to the front, which opens the vocals up to further scrutiny as when shoved down the throat so forcefully it becomes all the more apparent how basic some of the lyrics are.
In addition to the basic nature of the lyrics themselves, by forcing the vocals out so high the audience is also witness to just how inflexible Dunis’ voice is; this isn’t normally a talking point on record as she is suitably placed in the mix, maintaining the flat delivery while insisting on a cleaner sound requires vocals of more range.
It is not to say Peaking Lights have a bad singer or one that I dislike it’s simply that they should play to their strengths in a live setting.
Unfortunately, these singing issues help overshadow the majority of what is an otherwise accomplished set, which even includes a few encore numbers, one of which comes as a result of some audience begging and was completely unplanned, “wasn’t on our list” the superb ‘All The Sun That Shines’ from early album 936.
So then, it is only fair to suggest that Jaakko Eino Kalevi, despite garnering half the audience, did steal something of the thunder from those Peaking Lights.
Words: Andy Quigley
Photos: Kenichi Images
