Dullard that I am, I forget to charge me glass before thudding into the sweatsassed room. The rest of the assembled people seem to love it however, although the gluey floor does provoke asides of “Are you the walking dead” from fat-Darius frontpieman, James Mudreski; presumably due to the lack of audience animation tonite during the single of the same name. Mudreski’s vocals are engagingly off-kilter though – with the skysweepin’ larynx beseeching idolatry from the front row throughout. Has this band really been round for a decade? Surely not. The set is lumpen and sinisterly half-hearted – although of course that matters little if you’re a fan of their Mancpast-referencing / pasteurising.
But with the latest chart-jaunt 'Walking Dead' shaving the top 30, and new album 'Planet Helpless' looking like a suitably layered showcase for the quartet’s seduction productions, Puressence have definitely got a depth that a hell of a lot of groups nowadays seem ta eschew in favour of dirtbox 70s fuzzmastering. This is the point where the first lager starts to feel good and I decide that gigs are great things. To experience the joy of 500 others is a rare and pacific event, and I suddenly find I'm startin' to really tap into the appreciative mood.
Because the songs spin, soar, shout away with a supine aplomb gained by the survival of record company restructuring and shifts in popular taste – although a certain cynicism and through-the-motions formdipping is evident. 'This Feeling', 'Stand in your Shadow', the choons and the arrangements are damn near perfect, the fuckers, and the buggers know it.
I’ve had a few by now and I’m just starting to really get into it. “These will do about three encores” my mate assures me. They come back on once, the crowd still not quite alive, dash through some gripping stuff, and sidle off. The audience wanders off too, and as the rumbling rumination fades into the distance and the lights come on, I’m left virtually alone in the venue, wishing I’d been in a better mood to start with. Bollocks. Ginsters or not, this band are pretty sorted. Not sure whether I’m a fan yet but, yeah, I’ve definitely learnt something.
