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| Souvaris play their last ever show at Nottingham Contemporary - Photo by Eric Manchester |
First up is Low Point records head-honcho, Gareth Hardwick. Quickly and quietly getting over a small technical problem, he soon settles down to perform a new and beautiful 20 minute solo piece.
Teasing gentle swells of guitar lines from his instrument with an e-bow, Gareth creates lush and tranquil layers of sound. The music slowly builds in waves as he loops and samples his guitar. There is something dream-like about they way it moves, with mellow notes being gently pulled and woven together.
The music steadily engulfs the room, and even though I’ve just ben sat on the floor, I feel that I’ve been lifted up and taken elsewhere.
The way the stage is lit-up makes Kogumaza cast huge black shadows on the walls of The Space, which is appropriate considering the gigantic wall of noise they make.
It’s hard to not sound like a hippy when you say it, but Kogumaza make music that you don’t only listen to, but you also feel it (man). It’s a physical and visceral experience. Their sound is heavy, but not in a ‘heavy metal’ way, but in the sense that you feel each growling riff and pound of the drum shake the inside of your head and chest.
The dense and repetitive nature of their music, all pagan rhythms and interlocking guitars, is transcendental and hypnotic, and it has a way of snaking it’s way deep inside. It’s a heady mix and not one for the faint hearted.
They close with a new song called NB, titled after their collaborator on the song, Nathan Bell, and it sees the band take their template and send it in to deep and darkest space. It’s the sound of stars exploding and of galaxies being formed. One of their heaviest space jams yet.
When I moved back to Nottingham after graduating from university and started going to gigs in the city, Souvaris were one of the first ‘local’ type bands that I got in to. I’ve been a fan ever since, watching them whenever I can, and having got to know a couple of them, it was a pleasure to discover that they are all sound chaps too. So on a personal level, it is good to have the opportunity say goodbye to one of the very first Notts bands that I got in to, and in some way or another, led me to where I am now and typing this.
Taking their final bow, Souvaris are in defiant mood and play a set that has a celebratory feel to it. Ballons are passed around audience, which makes the room look like an 1980s episode of Top Of The Pops. it’s a bizzare sight seeing Souvaris locked in to their math-rock groove as multicoloured balloons being thrown in to the air.
But it is a party of sorts, and we are all here to celebrate the end of one of Nottingham’s finest bands. In their 12 years together, they’ve released 3 albums and numerous EPs, and during tonight’s lengthy headlining set they plays tracks that stretch their entire output.
If this show is going to be their epitaph, Souvaris certainly make sure that they go out with a bang. In what is a highly taut and energetic set, they flex all of their musical might, from delicate post-rock, through to jazzy interludes to full on epic math-rock work outs.
The band end their set huddled around the drummer hitting various bits of percussion as the final notes of music that they will ever make together ring out and fade away.
As they recently told LeftLion, this isn’t completely the end as band members are going to still be making music - three of them as Cantaloupe, and one of them as Apalusa, but as the curtain goes down on Souvaris, tonight’s show was a fitting way to end it all.
Souvaris, Kogumaza and Gareth Hardwick played at Nottingham Contemporary on Friday 17 February 2012.
Read the final Souvaris interview on LeftLion.
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