We might call Touché Amoré ‘hardcore’, but that’s only because a better word for their sound hasn’t been coined yet. They’ve only been in the UK for a week as part of one of their brief and sporadic appearances outside the US, and while seeing them headline is enough of a delight on it’s own, they give us a set which celebrates the best of all that they’ve accomplished so far; sure, there’s a classic hardcore sound, and a fair few numbers from latest album ‘Spiral In A Straight Line’, but that’s the beginning. There’s so much more to them than their studio records could encompass, and that’s the secret that’s drawn us to a midweek, high street club show.
The broken heart at the centre of their sound is stitched together and reanimated anew from the very start. ‘Nobody’s’ is presented simply: we don’t need any gimmicks or silliness to make this song shine, just the overwhelming sense that we’re experiencing a band’s wishes coming true. It’s easy to love them through their distorted vulnerability, and while ‘Art Official’ is a gruelling listen, it comes with a sense of satisfaction. We’ve earned the right to be in this room, as each chord glued together by the force of the drumbeats reminds us. There’s so much beauty waiting to be unearthed beneath the stark constructions of ‘Nine’, and you face the choice to throw yourself into the rough and uneasy landscapes Touché Amoré sonically paint or just stand back and observe what they’re creating.
Jeremy Bolm is ever the enigmatic frontman. He screams out his emotions before each track, like a preacher of his own poetic truths, in a way that feels like you’re a trusted friend, a jolly grin on his face as he sings out his deepest fears. He might wave his hand frivolously, the blue light glinting off his bare skull, as he takes you through his historic pain but in the few moments Bolm pauses to speak, his voice is nasal and shy. “You sing beautifully, thank you,” he murmurs, looking at his feet, when just a moment before he was roaring out his frustrations. Much like the rest of his band, he has the rare gift of being able to compress whole scenes and scenarios into palpable shards of songs. Whether it’s the patient listing of his habits on the celebration of the human experience that is ‘Hal Ashby’ or wrestling with trying to compact whole narratives into ‘New Halloween’, he’s able to capture sentiments which we all share that go beyond a simple genre label.
‘Harbor’ is the song that reaches the furthest beyond the gritty scene stereotype. The intro is all storms and rolling clouds, moving at a glacial pace, before halting and swerving into lonely resolution and strength. It almost reaches into party song territory as the guitar peaks, just for a second or two, then fades away. They encourage our screams of joy in embracing the nothingness of life on ‘Palm Joy’, a song to force facing resignation with brightness, before Bolm calmly announces ‘Savouring’ like a commentator. The drums build to a heavy relishing fervour before Bolm slows his vocals down to enjoy each syllable he projects, above a transient, shifting guitar line, his voice slowing even more to project a moral at the end of the song.
There’s rarely really a break or a moment to remember where you are anywhere in their set, not when ‘~’s a rowdy flammable energy makes the earth under your feet unsteady with its fervour. When Bolm does pause to catch his breath after forty five minutes of near-continuous screaming, we wait respectfully in silence until he’s ready before pouring ourselves into the gorgeous echoes and mundane revelations of ‘Force Of Habit’. The dawn-like opening of ‘Flowers And You’ sparks a cheer and an atmosphere of blooming gratitude, for Touché Amoré and ourselves for coming as far as we have in our lives. With each snap and slam, this song creates a modern kind of heavy magic.
When the band want to make music with a touch of loveliness, they do so in a very profound way. As encore ‘Limelight’, with it’s perfunctory tone and satisfying buildups, slides into view, it feels whole and complete in the way only a good punk song cam. Bolm seems surprised by how much we love this song, waving awkwardly to wish us goodbye. While he might be humbled and astonished by the effect his music has on the crowd, we aren’t. ‘Spiral In A Straight Line’ confirmed last year that Touché Amoré have grown exponentially from their hardcore starting point, even though they have retained the ethic in all that they do. It’s no longer a secret that with this new record they’ve broken out of their original role, and after a show like this, we’re ready to share the joy of Touché Amoré with the world.
KATE ALLVEY