poppedmusic

The Mysterines

o2 Academy, Liverpool, 30 October 2021

Words and Photos by Gary Lambert

The confident upward trajectory of The Mysterines is encapsulated by the fact that before they played their biggest, hometown headline show to date, the band had already announced another show at a bigger venue for 2022 (tickets available here).  Undoubtedly, Popped Music will be there to cheer them on once more.

No offence meant to them, but looking at them on stage, The Sonder look like a standard indie band ready to sing standard indie songs.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Musically The Sonder are fantastic, interesting, and exciting through the heavy influence of soul music.  This creates a joy for the listener and makes The Sonder stand out.  I can honestly say I really enjoyed this set, but I do think they will need to work on creating more of a stage presence for their headline sets to come.  The first one of which is a This Feeling show at Arts Club in Liverpool in a few weeks’ time.

STONE were a very last minute arrival on the bill, but with the confidence of their rapturously received tour support with Yungblud flowing through them that wasn’t a problem.  Without doubt, STONE have grown as a band considerably since the last time I watched them.  The four-piece have a great energy and chemistry on stage, and if their singer does split opinions, he’s brave enough to acknowledge it and openly play up to it too “you probably hate me / what can I say / I’m a hateable guy / who lives to play the game”.  I’m sure though that the haters wouldn’t begrudge any level of success that comes through hard work.

I don’t think I have been to a gig with such an even and wide demographic in the audience like that which follows The Mysterines, it is accurately symbolic of their something for everybody sound which sees them drawing new plaudits constantly.  The only negative to that is there is a lack of the vibrancy and energy that comes from young audiences.  For as heavy a sound as The Mysterines have, you’d hope or expect that a hometown show would be as wild and unhinged for the audience as the band.  Instead for the opening tracks it is relatively sedate and puts all the pressure on the four on stage to create an atmosphere and edge.

Creating atmosphere and edge is something that The Mysterines do in abundance though.  Their ability to create a sense of tension and foreboding is wonderful.  Every track the band powers through leaves a visceral sensation within the audience.  You feel connected to Lia as she lays her words bare, whilst at the same time feeling energised by the power of their music. The band make sure they entertain and engaged with their non-stop performance too. You don’t need to be a committed fan of The Mysterines to be drawn into them.

The Mysterines musically offer something that stands out, and I think will stand the test of time too.  Songs such as Hung Up and In My Head might have been released in the last year, but there is nothing to suggest that they are part of a wave of fashion or hip location, instead they exist timelessly like they could have been played any time or place since guitars went electric.

The Mysterines are on an unstoppable rise.  See you next time!