Damefrisør, Yes Basement. 7th March 2023

It’s the second night on the bounce in the Yes Basement and there are a lot more people on stage tonight. Five of them, they’re called Damefrisør (dame-eh-frizz-yuor), which apparently means hairdresser, but I don’t think that’s important. There’s some great stuff coming out of Bristol at the moment and this lot I suspect could be great. The smoke slowly drifts off the stage and begins to fill the room with that oddly sweet smell, as the lights glow through the haze. So far, so gothy. This is suitable for that’s exactly the world that Damefrisør inhabit. Dark tones, with a little shoegaze and a lot of atmosphere. We start with something I don’t recognise, but it sounds amazing. Setting the tone before the blips and bass of ‘D.O.D’ explode and Kazhi’s deep vocals resonate around the room. As is often the case they sound better live than on record, which is saying something, as the new EP is fantastic. Loud though, songs like ‘The Grip’ sound massive. Some bands can sometimes sound a bit muddy in here, but this is crisp and powerful. Especially on slower songs like ‘Above Board’ with those rolling bass lines.  “I close my eyes” Kahzi sings. Do as he says, it’s sublime. It pairs beautifully with ‘52a’ and it’s borrowed Doors lyrics as Sam bashes the hell out of a bank of electronics. The drums set the pace as things ramp up for ‘Do You Think I’m Special’. With it’s synth slabs this is by all rights a dance floor banger. It’s sounds like it was written in Manchester circa ‘83. That’s intended as a compliment. The gauntlet is down, there’s only one song that can follow, ‘2-HEH-V’ is probably their danciest output to date. As long as you want to dance to dark menacing monsters. I do. It’s absolutely glorious. They finish with ‘Horizon’ which melts everything we’ve heard previously together brilliantly and decends into a stunning electronic coda, that quite honestly floors me. Some gigs take you by surprise. I knew this would be good, but I’m no longer suspecting, Damefrisør are great!