Live review from Underground 96:
Setlist:
1. Isolation
2. Deep
3. He Is Definitely Coming
4. Gone
5. Creep (Radiohead cover)
Once upon a time there was a show on the Friday before the Hong Kong Sevens. As you can probably already tell, the draining effect it had on all other gatherings was considerable. Unfortunately, one of those gatherings was this show, and attendance certainly seemed to have suffered towards the beginning of the show (luckily, the numbers did pick up soon, so I won’t bitch too much about this). It was to a burgeoning crowd that Eli began their set. They appeared to be drenched in somewhat cynical boredom – a critical element of 90s rock - with their staid demeanour and unadorned clothing. Having a kind of revisionist take on grunge, they brought some cleverly constructed songs, along with largely simple yet effective instrumentation. Singer Sun has a kind of buzzy, droning voice that really holds their semi-melodic sound together. Plus, to hear a voice like his from someone with his lean frame is always an entertaining paradox.
Isolation was a moody, atmospheric song which had elements of early Radiohead, followed by the deceptive calm of Deep, which, as the song went along, became increasingly insolent and frenetic with the vocals devolving into a guttural scream. The two notes repeated rapidly throughout most of Gone threw it into spacey, weird-out territory, with an interesting contrast offered by the relatively upbeat drums. An interesting feature of their songs was how nonchalant their endings were – you barely realised when they’d stopped! Finally (and very inevitably) the set closer was the classic Creep. This was the only song I felt could have used some more embellishment; however, the choice of abandoning Thom Yorke’s falsetto for a scream was a commendable one, and the set was ended with a pronounced guitar flourish.
Shashwati
Performances:
