Live Review Mirrors, The Kiara Elles, Secret Circuits
Trance, post-punk, and David Byrne on crack (disclaimer: not really)
Live Review: Mirrors, The Kiara Elles, Secret Circuits
Other Recent Live Review Articles
This night took on certain guises as it went along. At first, the audience was almost persuaded into some 90s trance rave by Secret Circuits who, unfortunately, had definitely never ever been proper raving in their life. What could have been a euphoric, climactic opening band with some really quite good keyboard riffs that Paul Van Dyk would totally have sampled never really escaped the band’s nervousness, coupled with a probably shared pet hate of people that spend a lot of money on a Nord and then only press one button on it throughout the whole song. It is not a status symbol, it’s a good piece of kit. Treat it accordingly.
Proceedings then seismically shifted firmly into post-punk territory courtesy of the absolutely blinding Kiara Elles. You almost want them to sound like The Slits (and vocalist Chiara Lucchini sort of does) but in reality they were somewhere between the Howling Bells, Gang of Four and Blondie, which is very definitely a good thing. So much swagger, so many guts, jaggedy riffs, confidence, high punches; everyone on stage really enjoyed themselves and it transferred onto the crowd. Even better, this time the Nord was being battered.
Then Mirrors happened. The lights were dimmed, the antique keyboards with their wooden cases were arranged on metal trolleys in perfect rows and then four perfect men walked on stage. In matching grey suits. With thin black ties. It was heavenly, and that was before about a thousand layers of dense keyboard harmony washed over the PA. The drum machine was just the right side of 80s and front man James wailed and gyrated like David Byrne on crack.
The accompanying video show was gruesome enough to add a sinister level to the Mirrors experience (giving birth backwards, anyone?!) and also served well to mask the fact that about half the musical layers were pre-recorded. Clever, that, distracting the audience with immaculate presentation.
Then again, they are a record company’s dream; their image is strong, their stage presence is riveting, the ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5’ chorus in ‘Ways to an End’ creates an immediate single and, really, the songwriting is so good here that this band deserve to do more than well. It genuinely felt like everyone had been let in on a well-kept secret; they were fascinating and completely immersive to watch.
Posted on Wednesday 11th August 2010
Marianne Rizkallah
Oporto
31-33 Call Lane, Leeds, LS1 7BT
Email this article
Sending you to Twitter, hold on... Comments on Live Review: Mirrors, The Kiara Elles, Secret Circuits
Comment by Adam Williams
Posted on Wed 11th Aug 10 6:33 pm
I have seen Secret Circuits play before at Live at Leeds 2010 as well as more recently and they are consistently awesome and really get the crowd going. They may not have been ‘proper raving in their life’ but they bring a style which bridges the gap between Indie and Synth Pop/Trance and creates a sound which is massively danceable and well produced. I think, as with all reviews it’s subjective and the reviewer just didn’t warm to their sound but I disagree with the ‘press one button’ on the Nord comment as the keyboardist Jack Chapman is massively talented in my opinion, having seen him perform many a time. I wouldn’t let this one review put anyone off seeing them live as it really is a brilliant experience and I can see them doing very well in the future.
Comment by John Wright
Posted on Wed 11th Aug 10 9:15 pm
Cheers for the review, Sorry we cant please everyone!
I do disagree with the not very nice comments of our synth player Jack, He hasnt been in the band very long and is coming on great and i can assure you he uses more than one key!
If perhaps you would like to come to another of our gigs we could maybe change your opinion, i have a couple of guest passes for our gig at moorfest next week or Koko in a couple of weeks, your more than welcome to come, There will be no nerves i can assure you.
Thanks to the good people at Leeds Indie Radio.
Reviews like this just inspire us to progress even more so.
Peace
John
Secret Circuits
Comment by Marianne Rizkallah
Posted on Sun 29th Aug 10 8:59 pm
Hi guys,
Glad you didn’t take my review personally; unfortunately, Secret Circuits just didn’t do it for me on the night. Sorry I can’t make the gigs you’ve offered but hopefully will bump into you again soon.
