My first impression of Pink Cloud is that he is a rapper but as he takes to the stage I'm not so sure. He shouts rather than raps over a jangly shoegaze backing track. His shouty vocal style is similar to Sleaford Mods or Soft Play but lacks any kind of flow. The vocals start to grate very quickly. Music-wise I find myself tapping my foot (or more accurately, flexing my knees) but the vocals just destroy everything. I'll be surprised if I watch a worse act this year.
Soft Blue Shimmer play upbeat, jangly shoegaze/indie rock. The vocals are so delicate they're barely there, but they are dreamy. They sound like Juliana Hatfield mixed with Mazzy Star but fronted by Curve's Toni Halliday. On the occasions when the guitarist sings and the band rock out, they sound like Sonic Youth. One song has americana guitar lines weaved through it. The closing track has a driving dynamism reminiscent of Swervedriver musically. Good stuff.
Cold Gawd open their set with just the guitarist singing along to an electro soul backing track before the rest of the band join him for a powerful, almost hardcore take on shoegaze. When the bassist sings, it takes a screamo turn, although this isn't surprising considering he is wearing a Dystopia t-shirt and has a Minor Threat patch on his jeans. The guitarist's vocals could be much louder as they seem too delicate to get through the noise the band makes. They are much heavier and noisier than I expected, and there is a real Fugazi feel to them. They are definitely at the heavier end of shoegaze. Their combination of power and melody also reminds me of Teenage Wrist. One track has a super heavy, doomy feel. There isn't a great deal of variety as many of the tracks follow a similar pattern but they make up for that in power and energy, with all the band attacking their instruments in a pretty aggressive fashion. The penultimate track is really grungy and is excellent. Less subtle than I was expecting but certainly more powerful.
Cold Gawd ****
Soft Blue Shimmer ****
Pink Cloud *
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