Arrows of Love

There will come a point when Hush the Many (Heed the Few) are no longer referenced in an Arrows of Love review but there are some who still lament the demise of frontman Nima’s previous band. His new project, Arrows of Love are still a young group, barely a year old, and are entirely different – there are a few of the old Hush songs but these have been reworked so that they are barely recognisable.

The London-based Arrows of Love is a six piece band. Their frenetic sound has been compared to Rage Against the Machine and The Smashing Pumpkins, and entails fast and furious guitars, soaring cello and edgy vocals. They have recently recruited a new bassist to replace Emma who had made her debut at the Scala last October just two weeks after picking up a bass guitar for the first time. Bethia Beadman, who's played with Courtney Love, and is also a singer-songwriter in her own right, alternates between keyboards and guitar and delivers backing vocals in a stylised, expressive way – sometimes singing, sometimes howling and wailing.



The guitarist, Luis, who plays in the Eraserheads, had been poached for a while by Jamie T for a tour and an appearance at Glastonbury. He's becoming quite a showman and is now adept at stealing the limelight from the charismatic frontman; he indulges in some guitar hero posturing, jumps off the stage during a couple of songs to play in front of the crowd and gets amongst a few dancers during another song, as well as playing the instrument gleefully above his head. Kate, on cello, adds a touch of elegance to the band and swooping strings into the mix. Wim, the drummer (also of The Eraserheads and Loverman) plays so enthusiastically that he goes right through a snare drum fairly early on in the set – he borrows another from the support band (very decent of them!).

Tonight is the official launch of the Arrows' debut EP 'Burn This Town', which is released on 20th July, but has been available as a free download to their followers since the end of May. They play only two tracks of the four on the debut EP – the powerful title track which seems to refer to the hedonism of the capital city, and 'Prescriptions' whose lyrics deride the "quick fix" solutions to society's ills and feels almost confrontational. This song has particularly shouty vocals and Nima moves around erratically, hunched into the mic, carried away by the energy of the song and seemingly oblivious to the beer bottles he's kicked over or to backing in to the drums; the cellist looks wary.



Three dancers appear between the stage and the audience in peach dresses and white capes with knee high stockings, looking sort of futuristic in a kitsch way and performing a meandering dance to a cover of the song 'In the Year 2525'. Although it's a hippy classic from the '60s, it carries an apocalyptic message which is still relevant today and is a great, atmospheric track.

This is followed by one of my favourite songs, 'The Knife', a story of a broken relationship and the emotional scars inflicted which is a dark, dramatic track, made more so by Bethia's disturbing, wailing backing vocals.

After a false start, the last song in the set is 'The Illusionist', which involves another mic wielding, vocal screeching, frenzied leaping around from Nima and finishes with Luis' guitar feeding back long after the band have left the stage.

There's no encore and it's a very short set but Arrows of Love are recommended for those who like their music energetic, fierce and passionate and enjoy a volume which is ear-ringing loud.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.