OVERHEAD, THE ALBATROSS + FORT + CIVIL SERVICE – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 19.7.25
This doesn’t happen very often these days! There’s a trio of bands on this evening’s bill at the quirky Green Door Store in Brighton, (courtesy of local promoters Emiko Promotions), that I haven’t witnessed live before, and they all come from different countries!
This evening’s headlining act is Dublin based Overhead, The Albatross who refer to themselves as “Irish noise makers”. They comprise Luke Daly (guitar/spoken word), David Prendergast (keys/synths/vocals), Stevie Darragh (bass), Vinny Casey (guitar), Ben Wanders (drums) and Jason Boland is listed as their sound engineer, although I did see and speak to Dutch born Hanna Witkamp of Welly fame, who was I believe at the controls this evening.
Overhead, The Albatross have been on the case since 2009, although tonight we learn that they haven’t played here in 12 years, so this evening is a rare opportunity for the lucky punters that are present to catch the lads in action. Just in case you are wondering, the band name is rather an unusual one and it derives from a line in Pink Floyd’s song ‘Echoes’: “Overhead the albatross; Hangs motionless upon the air…”. They dropped their debut ‘Lads with Sticks’ EP back in 2011 and their first long-player came out in 2016 and was titled ‘Learning To Growl’. There seems to have been a hiatus after this until their ‘L’Appel Du Vide’ tune appeared in 2022. Then last year their ‘Your Last Breath’ became the lead single for their second album, ‘I Leave You This’ which came out on 15th November – listen HERE.
Tonight we are given a handful of tunes from this record as part of their 7-track set which ran for 51 minutes from 9:18pm to 10:07pm. We are stationed at the front of the cobblestoned (former stable) venue and behind our left shoulders are videos which are playing on the white-bricked side wall, which are projected from a few feet above our heads. It’s a shame that the video’s are shown behind the band for that totally immersive experience, and so my eyes flit between the band and the side wall, which isn’t ideal when endeavouring to capture all of the action.
The 5-piece begin with a slow intro and then pre-recorded female vocals ring out saying “I always wished I knew someone like that”, which is followed by Ben on the drums and the quintet merrily bounced away as they played ‘Your Last Breath’, the first from 2024’s ‘I Leave You This’ album. There’s a pleasant keyboard riff going on here. Their most animated musician is Stevie on cordless bass guitar and he makes his first of several forays into the crowd and almost took my block off with the neck of his instrument. I’m going to have to keep a close eye on him as I make my notes on my phone during this performance. Three-quarters into the number we finally get the first vocals of the whole evening, which are delivered in a spoken-word style with increasing urgency until the track concludes. Yes friends, the two opening acts both offer up instrumental numbers. This number builds and builds and their statement of intent has been announced!.
Their second selection is also from their latest album, this being ‘At Sea’, which is another long number and this has a livelier beat than the opener and benefits from an increasing Ibiza rave style keys and drums combination. Tallish frontman Luke switches from guitar to keys and so now we have two keys on the go with David at the back also on the case. I glimpse at the side wall projections and read the line “Beginning the pain to stay” and the drums and keys are increasingly notable as the song builds and builds until it explodes at around the 5 minute mark and we are seriously in M83 territory, which is something I wasn’t anticipating, but I’m rather glad the song ended that way.
It’s three in a row from the latest LP, with the arrival of ‘Hibakusha’, which is another lengthy number. The electronic backing and then the drums on this song combine to offer a pseudo-Gaelic vibe. Luke is on vocals once again, but this time around the delivery reminds me of Faithless’ Maxi Jazz (RIP), he stands sideways on as he offloads his message. I look to the rear and note that David has joined him with the vocal delivery. After which there’s a quiet keys section with that Gaelic sound backing again and then the drums kick back in. It then builds magnificently and it’s truly impressive stuff indeed. They’ve got our attention and we dare not look away! Already, Overhead, The Albatross are even better than I had anticipated and I know at least two of our review chums would be absolutely blown away by them!
They next perform the only unreleased number of the set, it’s called ‘A Few Years Left’, and guitarist Vinny takes over Luke’s keys, as Luke himself concentrates on delivering more spoken word lyrics akin to The Streets. Ben’s drumming is quite often off-kilter in certain sections during this number, and I can’t quite decide if it’s deliberate or not, but decide to give him the benefit of the doubt as he’s the newbie in the band having taken over the stix last year from another Ben, that being Ben Garrett. The keys (David’s I think) are sounding like that of a piano and I pick up on the line “It’s all or nothing or nothing at all”.
The lads then plunder the past with an old tune from back in 2016, this being ‘HBG’ which is another lengthy number which can be found on their debut ‘Learning To Growl’ album. There’s a Japanese recorded lyrics intro followed by a skipping trip hop drumbeat which nicely kicks in. It then dawns on me that this act skates across several music genres with true ease, and are so much more than their “Irish noise makers” self-proclaimed tag. ‘HBG’ builds into a cacophony of sound with guitarist Luke going on keys for a while as well. To my ear, there are almost virtually hidden spoken cut-ups in the background behind the solid beat which remind me of Public Service Broadcasting. Then they rock on out like a goodun until the end of the song.
Their penultimate selection is ‘This Is Like Love’ which begins with pre-recorded female vocals which could be Hindi and Ben’s drumming leads the way. Although I’m guessing the vocals are Hindi, they could easily have been Arabic with a Gaelic vibe. Monsoon’s ‘Ever So Lonely’ springs to mind, but this is so much heavier with many more layers going on. If they haven’t thought about an Ibiza club remix yet, then this is the tune to get the likes of The Chemical Brothers fans on board! This is quite simply THE choice song from the whole evening! Thank you lads!
Before they sign off, we are addressed by David at the rear who informs us that their final number was penned as a tribute to their departed dear friend Paul Lynch who passed away two years ago and that he was the reason the band got their act together again. Hence the final song is called ‘Paul Lynch’ and as I (like others) gaze at the side wall, the foreign voiced vocals of “When people leave and have to go, sometimes it’s too hard to say goodbye” are shared with us. This has a notable dancebeat to it and almost a dub drumbeat on occasions. The backing keys and short taped vocals remind me of the work of The Beloved, who famously released ‘The Sun Rising’. Then Luke unleashes his spoken vocal from the heart and then all five members stand together and heartily all sing the same lines without the use of mics in tribute, the lyrics appear on the wall next to me I believe, but I’m transfixed by the quintet. This is very moving and is also a great song, and the lads have done their friend proud! Nuff said… “We’re meet again”!. xx
Overhead, The Albatross:
Stevie Darragh – bass
Ben Wanders – drums
Vinny Casey – guitar
David Prendergast – keys/synths/vocals
Luke Daly – guitar/spoken word
Jason Boland – sound engineer
Overhead, The Albatross setlist:
‘Your Last Breath’ (from 2024 ‘I Leave You This’ album)
‘At Sea’ (from 2024 ‘I Leave You This’ album)
‘Hibakusha’ (from 2024 ‘I Leave You This’ album)
‘A Few Years Left’ (unreleased)
‘HBG’ (from 2016 ‘Learning To Growl’ album)
‘This Is Like Love’ (from 2024 ‘I Leave You This’ album)
‘Paul Lynch’ (from 2024 ‘I Leave You This’ album)
linktr.ee/OverheadTheAlbatross
There were two support acts this evening, the first of these being the English contingent, Civil Service, who hail from Manchester and state that they are a “Frenetic post-rock band”. They comprise Francis Atkinson (guitar/synth), Alex Coates (guitar), Thom Hamper (drums/Alesis drumpads) and new boy Charlie Adshead on Fender Jazz bass who is playing his second ever gig with the band. Like the headliners, Civil Service have operated both sides of the covid pandemic, with debut tune ‘Wallenberg’ popping up in an unsuspecting world at the beginning of 2017, followed by ‘David Lynch Mob’/’Guilty Mother’s Club’ bookending the same year. Their 5-track ‘Life /// Death’ LP dropped in March 2022 and was followed in August last year by another 5-tune LP titled ‘// Light’. Yes they are both LP’s on account of the length of the tracks, the longest being 14 minutes 38 seconds.
This evening we are in the guys company from 7:12pm, which takes us slightly by surprise as we are ordering our liquid refreshment, but thankfully we can peer through the dividing curtain whilst the pouring is going on. They should have begun at 7:15pm, but sadly the venue was very sparse throughout a majority of the set. Like the headliners, Civil Service also have videos playing on the side wall. We are given a half dozen numbers, the first two being unreleased, namely ‘These Cities Are Ruins’ and ‘Urbn Dcy’. The echoey guitars and drums sound akin to the tunes found on The Cure’s ‘Faith’ album. Not surprisingly both guitars each have several foot-pedal options.
I mentioned above about having to look over my shoulder to watch some of the videos that were playing whilst the band were on. It seems that Alex solved this situation by vacating the stage on a few occasions and leaning against the side-wall whilst playing his cordless guitar, with the video playing directly above his head. This assisted with the overall vibe of their sound. Surprisingly, they only played one tune from their current album, this being ‘Their Lines Of Communication, Severed’, which had the vibe of British Service Broadcasting minus the keys, although I believe there were prerecorded vocals deep in the mix. Strangely, there wasn’t a microphone at all on stage, and so in between each of the numbers Alex had to simply endeavour to talk to us, but it was a tad difficult to hear him and we were standing right at the front. Yes I know all of their tunes are instrumentals, but they did actually require a microphone and stand.
Moving on…next up was ‘An Infant Wave On A Savage Ocean’ which featured Luke from Overhead on pre-recorded vocals, and this too is currently unreleased. Their penultimate selection was ‘David Lynch Mob’ from 2017’s ‘David Lynch Mob’ /// ‘Guilty Mother’s Club’ release, and this benefitted from an echoey guitar frenzy with a constant drum pattern. There were samples in the mix that again reminded me of Public Service Broadcasting. During this track Alex not only vacated the stage, but walked past the punters, went through the red curtain and into the bar area, and went and stood just outside the venue building, whilst still playing his guitar, which was much to the amusement of the other support band, who happened to be milling around there.
They concluded their performance with ‘Turn Out The Light’, another as yet to be released song, and this one features pre-recorded vocals from Scott of Blackshape and Liam of Hidden Mothers. During the track Francis was flitting between guitar and his synth almost on a note by note process, which was rather impressive. There was another solid wall of guitar sound, accompanied with bass and drums interplay. Imagine a cross between Slowdive and M83 and you’re somewhere there! It’s a shame that more punters weren’t witness to this set, but you never know the lads might head back from Manchester in the future.
Civil Service:
Francis Atkinson – guitar/synth
Alex Coates – guitar
Charlie Adshead – bass
Thom Hamper – drums
Civil Service setlist:
‘These Cities Are Ruins’ (intro/walk-on) (unreleased)
‘Urbn Dcy’ (unreleased)
‘Their Lines Of Communication, Severed’ (from 2024 ‘/// Light’ album)
‘An Infant Wave On A Savage Ocean’ (features Luke from Overhead on pre-recorded vox) (unreleased)
‘David Lynch Mob’ (from 2017 ‘David Lynch Mob’ /// ‘Guilty Mother’s Club’ release)
‘Turn Out The Light’ (with pre-recorded vox from Scott (Blackshape) and Liam (Hidden Mothers)) (unreleased)
Completing the trio of the acts on the bill are Fort which is stylized as ‘FORT’ and they state that they are an “Instrumental Post-Rock Quartet from South Wales”. There’s four of them in this Cardiff based band: Gavin O’Driscoll (guitar), Craig Prosser (bass), Ben Hooper (guitar) and Matthew Moore (drums and laptop). We are in their company for 49 minutes from 8:08pm until 8:57pm and during that period they offload 8 tunes for our aural consumption. Unlike the other two bands, they do not utilize the side wall to run the videos, it’s a case of all eyes on the band. And thankfully there are now many more eyes in the venue in order to check them and the headliners out.
The set begins with ‘Over The Water, Where The Clouds Grow’ from 2024’s ‘Over The Water, Where The Clouds Grow’ EP and is followed by no less than two untitled new songs. There’s the expected wall of noise via the guitars and the drums are in sync here, but these guys are more in the rock territory than the other two acts on the bill this evening. They too have a mighty fine selection of foot-pedals available to them. Tune four is the title track from their ‘We’ll Burn That Bridge When We Get To It’ EP which was released in 2021 and this features some enjoyable drumming. ‘How To Find Asteroids’ from the same EP is their next selection and there’s more foot-pedal action going on here for that wonderful echoey effect, and then the drums kick in and it reminds me a tad of the Sugarcubes epic ‘Birthday’ tune on this drumbeat and then the tune goes seriously mental.
Tune six is a less intense affair, this is ‘Beacons’ which is found on their ‘Over The Water, Where The Clouds Grow’ EP from last year. This features an underlying bass jazz beat with the bass guitar being plucked higher up the neck. In order to keep the punters on their toes, the track has a sudden ending. Then there’s some Duane Eddie and Shadows sounding fast guitar action, before the whole quartet explode into a noise action. For me, this is their best tune thus far and features solo guitars as an outro, until, that is, the other two come to the party. It’s a long tune that runs for something like 10 minutes.
The sole number culled from 2023’s ‘Once All Is Said And Done, We Still Draw Breath’ album is up next, this being ‘Ouroboros’ which features the use of an EBow unit by one of the guitarists. The EBow uses a pickup and a magnetic feedback circuit to vibrate strings without touching them, allowing players to sustain notes indefinitely, and thus giving us an almost hypnotic element to their sound. The swirling rhythms remind me of material contained on The Cure’s ‘Pornography’ album. The lads sign off with their 2018 ‘It’s Dangerous To Go Alone…Take This!’ single, which commences with Matthew tapping the rim of the drums with his drumstick. After this they are away and head off into heavy rock territory via their riffage. There’s even a marching band style drumming break, and one of the guitarists comes into the crowd. Overall the crowd appreciated what FORT were offering us.
FORT:
Gavin O’Driscoll – left guitar
Craig Prosser – bass
Ben Hooper – right guitar
Matthew Moore – drums
FORT setlist:
‘Over The Water, Where The Clouds Grow’ (from 2024 ‘Over The Water, Where The Clouds Grow’ EP) (intro walk on music)
‘Untitled new song’ (unreleased)
‘Untitled new song’ (unreleased)
‘We’ll Burn That Bridge When We Get To It’ (from 2021 ‘We’ll Burn That Bridge When We Get To It’ EP)
‘How To Find Asteroids’ (from 2021 ‘We’ll Burn That Bridge When We Get To It’ EP)
‘Beacons’ (from 2024 ‘Over The Water, Where The Clouds Grow’ EP)
‘Ouroboros’ (from 2023 ‘Once All Is Said And Done, We Still Draw Breath’ album)
‘It’s Dangerous To Go Alone…Take This!’ (a 2018 single)
