Some evenings seem to have a pre-determined sprinkle of magic about them. Tonight is I Break Horses first ever UK show and only their third gig ever. Rather impressively, it is a sell-out. Even by Mancunian standards the weather is atrocious and punters file down the slippery cellar steps with raining steaming off drenched coats.
There is a genuine buzz of expectancy in the air. The Stockholm duo of Maria Lindén and Fredrik Balck released one of 2011’s finest debut albums; ‘Hearts’ was a surging mix of woozy shoegaze and pulsing electronica. In the basement of the Soup Kitchen, a rustic mix of exposed brickwork and artfully leaking sky-lights, 100 or so folk are crammed in to see whether I Break Horses can transfer their sonic alchemy onto a live setting.
However, they’ll have to wait; first up is crackling beatsmith Seams. Known as Jami Welch to his mates, the techno tyrant whips up a slick collage of his taut sound, including both tracks from his recent double single, ‘Focus Energy’ and ‘Motive Order’. While the tunes hit their intended mark, Seams is constrained by merely being one man jabbing at a bank of equipment – bigger venues made need a more expansive visual set.
I Break Horses then make the most understated entrance. With a low stage obscuring them from all but the tallest of fans, they begin almost unnoticed. However, almost suddenly, the charged surge of ‘Wired’ fills the air and noise envelops the room. Live, I Break Horses are a five-piece with additional bass, guitars and keyboards ensuring the textured grace of ‘Hearts’ is allowed to breathe. Before their set, Maria tells Clash that their main computer was showing the ‘blue screen of death’ and they haven’t been able to fix it. However, ‘Wired’ sounds gigantic – a Hadron Collider-style pummelling of reverb and beats. Who needs computers?
Intriguingly, Lindén and Balck lurk at the back the stage. The hauntingly beautiful singer is clad in a black velvet capre and her voice darts and dives around the swell of delicious noise. ‘Load Your Eyes’ is a huge, fuzzy anthem with Linden now beginning to visibly relax as the Manchester crowd holler their approval between songs. She seems genuinely touched by the response.
The 40-minute set gains momentum. Even at such an early stage in their gigging careers, I Break Horses know to save the best to last. ‘Winter Beats’ is a dizzying lysergic headfuck of spiralling loops, while the track ‘Hearts’ ricochets around the room, before fizzing out of earshot. And then they are gone; gig number three was a joy and I Break Horses will undoubtedly get better and better.
When Clash lurks backstage post-show, the band are stood in a circle smoking furiously. Maria tells us that the show was a technical disaster. We tell her that no-one in the room realised or cared. But, as ‘Hearts’ proved, Maria Lindén is a perfectionist and I Break Horses made a significant step towards greatness tonight – whether she believes it or not.
Words by John Freeman
Photo Credit: Alex Southam
