It was on an ordinary weekday morning with my trusty clock radio tuned in to 6music when I first heard Eyre Llew. I noticed the melody emerging through washed-out guitars on heavy reverb and had already turned up the volume, when Chris Hawkins back-referenced the track; “That was Eyre Llew. Britain’s answer to Sigur Ros.” I practically leapt out of bed to look them up. Any comparison to Sigur Ros is high praise indeed and one which no band can possibly live up to. A downloaded album on heavy rotation since then has revealed that they do indeed suit Hawkins’ bold comparison.
Formed in 2014 by Jack Clark, Jack Bennett and Sam Heaton, Eyre Llew’s own brand of music has been labelled “post-rock”, “art-rock” (yuck!) and “ambient rock”, more of which later. They released their first album ‘Atelo’ in 2017 to universally warm reviews and have been touring it throughout the world for the last 18 months. It was on a particular leg of the tour in Asia that the band formed a strong friendship with “K-pop” band ‘In The Endless Zanhyang We Are’, which led to a collaboration on ‘Split’, an EP of 5 songs which literally splits the lead responsibilities between the groups (2 to 3 in favour of their Korean counterparts), but blends the input of both bands throughout, to remarkably powerful effect.
The current tour is only 5 dates of small, intimate gigs to celebrate the release of the EP and Manchester was the last of these dates. The Retro Bar, situated on Sackville street near the University of Manchester, houses a basement venue ideal for watching live bands up close. So as I arrived I was struck by how appropriate it was for the solo acts on stage, but wondered how a band with such an epic scope would fare in these surroundings. Eyre Llew were preceded by solo sets by Campfire Social, Easter and Denuo, in whose music I have to confess, I struggled to find anything remarkable. Their songs were competent, well written, but indistinguishable from each other or from many singer / songwriters doing the rounds at the moment.
Eyre Llew’s 45 minute set began with little fanfare or posturing, with guitarist Jack Bennett crouched over his extensive effects kit on the floor (more pedals than the Tour De France!) to create a drone of dissonant sounds before standing up and bowing his guitar. On the opposite side of the stage Sam Heaton, plucked at his guitar wistfully to beautiful effect, the heavy reverb letting each note drift through the room as though it were being committed to memory. Here, Eyre Llew suited being labelled “ambient rock”, but by the time this number had reached its powerful crescendo and the band had launched into their second number, Havoc, a more rock-fuelled anthem, the label was already inadequate. “Ambient” according to the Collins English Dictionary means “of or relating to immediate surroundings” and the immense sound this band emitted was not “of” or befitting of these surroundings, it practically pushed against its confinement like a hand grenade going off in a shoe box. This was the loudest gig I have attended in about a decade, but never was it an abrasive or confrontational sound, more like standing amidst a choir during a hurricane.
Sam Heaton’s vocal range is magnificent, reaching falsetto highs that retain a power and resonance, whilst also capable of delivering rock vocals like the best of any brit-pop frontmen, coupled with the heavy reverb and wall of sound emitted from the whole band, his voice is used as an instrument, a soloist amongst an orchestra, rather than just a means to deliver lyrics. It is testimony to the sound technician in Retro Bar that all of the competing elements of Eyre Llew’s compositions coexisted harmoniously, rather than crowding each other out. I had seen Eyre Llew in Leeds three days previously and Sam’s vocals had sadly been beaten out in the mix, but here in Retro Bar, the technician had got the mix perfect… and loud. I hope he reads these complements, because I am quite sure he wouldn’t be able to hear any words of praise uttered to him at the end of the gig.
It was only a short set and the 45 minutes flew by, but the choice of songs fully showcase the scale of their compositions as post-rock introspection builds towards immense cacophonies in which both melancholia and euphoria vie for your soul in a dizzyingly overwhelming seduction. The last two songs ensured that we weren’t likely to forget this gig in a hurry. The penultimate number was ‘Silo’, the highlight of Eyre Llew’s ‘Split’ EP, in which a pensive piano melody gives way to a soaring anthem in seven beautiful minutes. The finale of the show was ‘Edca’, a rock number of sweeping majesty that allowed the band to unleash everything on the audience and was truly climactic in its tenor as well as its volume. As the song abrubtly ended, with Heaton’s vocal refrain left to drift away triumphantly, the audience were left to pick their brains off the back wall.
Eyre Llew will be appearing in Brighton at The Alternative Escape Festival in May and in Nottingham at Macmillan Fest in September. More dates will be announced on www.eyrellew.com as festival bookings roll in and I urge you to experience this band live.
Reviewer - Ben Hassouna-Smith
on - 29/4/19
Nice review, but to class Zanhyang as K-pop is more than doing them a disservice.
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