Flyying Colours, The Castle Hotel. 13th September 2023

Well this is a nice surprise. As I walk in to The Castle tonight and get my hand scribbled on, I find Cruush playing and the room is packed, which is always good to see for support bands. I only catch the end of their set to be fair, but I do like the sound of this lot and it’s a much more comfortable experience than the other week at Manchester Psych Fest in the midst of the heatwave.

The headliners tonight though are probably used to a little heat. Flyying Colours hail from Australia and play some of the most glorious shoegaze tunes I’ve been fortunate enough to wrap my ears round. Encased in the snug of this intimate venue, they sound even more immense. I really need to get to more gigs in here. It’s a great space and there’s a decent choice of beer too. Leading us in with a some drifty ethereal guitars, I can tell we’re in good hands and as all three come in the panoramic openness of their sounds bleeds through. Seriously we might be crammed in a small room, but this stuff makes you feel like you’re soaring, limitless. I’m in awe of bands like this. It looks so simple. The drums provide the drive, the bass notes are like a warm embrace, the guitar is the fuel as the angelic vocals transport you. There’s some indie pop bangers in their arsenal too, with Smiths like guitar licks and drums that have the drummer grinning from ear to ear. There’s a definite sense that they’re used to bigger rooms though and this one really struggles to contain them. I don’t have much background on them, whether they’ve played here much before, but I’m betting next time the venues will be bigger, so this feels like a real treat. You’d struggle to sum them up neatly, but the newer stuff feels like they’re hitting their stride and might be a good place to start. Just as I think this though, they tear into the heavier stuff that’s not grunge, but fuck me those guitars are brutal. Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, it’s all in there and the crowd approve. There’s a bunch of older lads in the middle of the room that are fucking loving it. If I’ve one negative, it’s that the vocals could be a bit louder in the mix, but this could also be down to my ears, I really should start wearing earplugs. As is often the case with bands like this, it’s when they get chance to lock into a groove that things start to get really interesting. Twisting and turning through a network of pummelling rhythm, I really don’t want them to ever stop. Screw the curfew, screw tomorrow, forget anything else that ever mattered and just let go. I don’t need air to breathe just layers of that beautifully toned feedback. That’s how they leave us. Squalls of it resonating as the bass guitar smashes a cymbal and we’re all left with smiley faces like the ones that have been written on our hands.