Hailed as one of Britain’s most promising indie prospects, The Mic went down to Sea Girls’ sold-out show at Rescue Rooms, which kicked off their UK headline tour in style.
The desire for fresh-faced, alternative heartthrobs has increasingly saturated Britain’s indie rock landscape to the point that the vibrant, crowd-pleasing genre has become a faceless quagmire of blandness and banality in recent years. One justified success story, however, has been the rise of London-based four piece Sea Girls, who kicked off 2019 with a BBC Sound Of 2019 nomination and since then have traversed the gap between small stage performers and main stage entertainers with relative ease.
With three infectious EPs already under their belts, the band – consisting of Henry Camamile (vocals, guitar), Rory Young (guitar), Andrew Dawson (bass) and Oli Khan (drums) – have built up a reputation as one of Britain’s glowing indie-rock outfits. Almost exactly a year since headlining Nottingham’s Bodega, the quartet embarked on their latest UK tour, with a sold-out headline show at Rescue Rooms proving the band’s ability to combine guitar-laden indie pop with soaring choruses.
Liverpool three-piece The Mysterines kicked off proceedings with a smattering of impressive, punchy live tracks, bolstered by relentless bass and drums which accompany Lia Metcalfe’s snarling vocals.
'They have traversed the gap between small stage performers to main stage entertainers with relative ease'.
The Merseyside band’s catalogue contains a mixture of fierce, high-energy affairs and, when transitioned to the live performance, they make for enticing viewing. I Just Love To Hate You was a pile-driving assault of punk-rock, Take Control’s winding guitars spiraled a sense of melodic and impassioned bliss into the audience, whilst Gasoline left the swelling Nottingham crowd eager for what was to come.
As the final gig goers trickled into the sweltering venue, the London four-piece emerged to launch straight into latest single Violet – their radio-friendly, pop-oriented track that manages to please indie diehards and pop lovers alike. As a dynamic tour-de-force on the live circuit, the Sea Girls experience is spearheaded by frontman Oli Khan, who didn’t hesitate in heading onto the barrier and interacting with the crowd. Heavenly War and Shake were met with screams and jubilation, whilst Too Much Fun proved to be an early highlight, its barnstorming chorus igniting fervor and energy on a cold October evening.
'The steady stream of hits that have been flowing out from the band is a major reason for their meteoric rise'.
An increasing feature of the current music landscape has been the changing reliance on singles over albums for artists, especially budding new talent. This shifting dynamic has managed to fit the Sea Girls aesthetic to great avail, and the steady stream of hits that have been flowing out from the band is a major reason for their meteoric rise. Open Up Your Head and Damage Done were sung back to the band with the same intensity and volume you’d expect of a sold-out bigger venue. Heading back out for an encore of Adored, in which Khan headed over the barrier and into the arms of the mosh, the night ended with rapturous applause and the hopeful buzz that London’s latest indie outfit could reach even greater acclaim.
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