Juffage / Quack Quack / Vessels @ The Library

The night kicked off with Juffage, whose short pre-set performance was the perfect aperitif to the night. Here we clearly had an accomplished solo musician who intricately constructed every part of his work: the vocals, bass, guitar and drums, as well as the keyboard. His vocals were reminiscent of Andy Hull’s: passionate, and always wavering between calm lamentation and ferocious anger. The guitar was likewise impressive, providing consistent clean riffs as the foundation upon which he added heavy drumbeats and distorted bass.

Unfortunately, as the next band up, Quack Quack failed to build upon Juffage’s impressive start. The drumming was consistent throughout, however the keyboard was too tame, and instead of taking the sound and really running with it, it faded meagrely in to the background. In the end it became a slight annoyance as its all-too-often mediocre sound clashed with the masterful drumming and distorted bass riffs. The music seemed to turn inward and did little to excite the emotions. Each song became simply the repetition of a few keyboard notes throughout, before ending with the mangling of a chord through an FX pedal.

Vessels, on the other hand, were a class apart. Their seamless combination of music and visuals had the resonance of Tool, without the surrealism, and it was the combination of the harmony of sound with the strangely beautiful visuals of mountains and blood canals that really separated the two bands. Unlike Quack Quack, the sound was not a jaunty mix, but a real fusion of guitar, drum, and vocals that really stirred the listener’s imagination. Each song became a journey, a story, beginning calmly and swooping up to a raucous interlude, before plummeting into a crescendo of powerful guitar sounds and stirring vocal - superb.

Steve Whiting