Words: The Captain

It’s a rainy Wednesday night and Opium is the place to be with four bands waiting to hit our ear drums with loud noises.

Shortly after the doors open, In Mirrors take to the stage. A slow ambient wave flows around the room, with an added touch of some very nice quiet vocals. Suddenly, it gets louder, quite unexpected, but nevertheless a good change. I like the fact they have a very talented female bassist, something I don’t see as often as I’d like. The change between very high and very low vocals gives a nice variation of what some bands of this genre do. With cymbal smashing and a wee awesome guitar solo, their set ends with the bassist adding some backing vocals and the wave slowing down again until it fades away. They have a YouTube, check it out here

Next, Bianca take to the stage. They are co-headlining the tour with Inuit, but they have chosen to go on second on this particular date. Before they even start, they introduce themselves, which is good, as some people may not have known about the change in the lineup. They have a beautifully strong start with pleasant vocals perfectly thrown into the mix. The first song is short, but sweet and gives an excellent example of what is yet to come. When they play a song called Sway, Darren Gibson (Inuit) tells me it’s their best song and I can immediately see why. A slow start with pretty beautiful vocals laced and intertwining around the music. You can find it on their bandcamp page here.

HOLD ONTO YOUR EARDRUMS! Now it’s time for the roof to be ripped off by local 4-piece instrumental rock band We Came From The North . Being a huge fan of instrumental music in general, these guys immediately catch my eye. They start off with somw wonderful drums and a strong bass. The mix of loud and quiet bits is something that leaves me with goosebumps (the good kind). They are very suited to the other bands, in particular, Inuit. They also make a point of introducing their merch girl who is waving copies of their album around. Good marketing guys! As they finish their set with one final song, the lights co-ordinate with the music, giving it even more power. Listen to them here

Now for Inuit, the 3-piece band from Glasgow caught my eye a few months back when they played in The Wee Red Bar (Edinburgh). There is a beautiful quote by Andy Johnson from a band called Windsor Airlift, which I think sums up how I feel about Inuit’s music.
“The beautiful thing about instrumental music is that we aren’t telling the listener how to feel, or what to think. But rather we’re letting them conjure up in their minds their own vision of what this song could mean to them.”
Inuit enable me to close my eyes and just feel the music rushing over and around me, filling the room. With a good use of some backing tracks, which just adds to the ambience. They enthral and captivate me. Their songs flow effortlessly into one another, which I feel gives them another bonus point. Towards the end of their set, a nice backing track arrives and they go for it one last time, before the music fades out and goes quiet. Inuit are, in my own opinion, one of the top 10 “new” (by this I mean not hit the “mainstream” yet) bands and they are worth everyone’s time. “The Staybright” is my current favourite song on their album. Listen to them here

I managed to snap a wee photo with the guys from Inuit after their set, pulling their best “duckface”.

You can see what the Inuit and Bianca boys got up to here: