CIEL + BELMONDO + CLEAN SHIRT – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 21.2.24
With my recent trips to Brighton’s respective Dome and Centre for high-profile shows, it somehow feels like ages since I’ve been to a grassroots show, where conversations with strangers ride high and excitement for up and coming bands strikes like lightning into the hearts of local gig-goers. Precisely this happened Wednesday night at The Hope & Ruin where, after much anticipation, I caught the indie rock trio CIEL (pronounced ‘She-Elle’) on the penultimate night of a 12-date tour across the UK and France. The group are spearheaded by Michelle Hindriks and have adapted many phases with her current line-up consisting of drummer Tim Spencer, and new guitar recruit, Ruby Taylor of Yumi and the Weather fame. The group’s appreciation for all things pop, shoegaze and all things alternative has cemented a cult following that has enjoyed airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music and several sell-out shows across the British isles.
Following a brief reunion with an old school friend, I found myself lining up in a gradually increasing queue outside the doors to the upstairs room at The Hope & Ruin waiting to be let in, whilst talking to a few CIEL fans. Moments later, the empty room was soon to be packed like sardines even before the first support band came on. Clean Shirt, sneakily named after an iconic quote from cult comedy Peep Show, have enjoyed the best part of a year now, honing their unique style of shoegaze pop with singles like ‘Clouded’ and ‘Fools View’ as well as garnering airplay on BBC Introducing. Fronted by the enigmatic Tess L.K. Davey, the band open their set with a distorted wave of crashing cymbals and electric guitars before a chorus-heavy riff from lead guitarist Dan Brown kicks things into place. In this song, ‘Answer To Everything’, the band are portraying a classic gothic rock sound with Tess’ soft and elegant vocal topping driving basswork from Chris Langenberg and a steady but propulsive drum groove from Tom Webb. We are subsequently introduced to the band’s latest single ‘Clouded’ which features a more power pop progression and bubblegum bliss amid the waves of guitars and the paired vocals between Tess and rhythm guitarist Ollie.
‘Foxglove’, which features a similar style of introduction to the previous two cuts, mixes things up with Tess running her voice through an effect pedal that adds to the soundscape wonderfully through her desolate and heartfelt lyrics. The song ‘Swaying’ was a strong highlight of the band’s set with a beautifully euphoric progression with groove switches and pummelling bass throughout, as was the song ‘Sweet Sweet Sad’ which sees Tess behind a Yamaha synth while her comrades provide strong dream pop soundscapes fans of Cocteau Twins would appreciate. The penultimate song of the set, ‘Breath’ plays within a lighter atmosphere and a more melancholic tone, albeit with a bittersweet chorus melody that tugs at the heartstrings. Heading into the closing ‘Fools View’, their debut single, the band kicks off with a loud, flourishing intro, much like the one that opened the set to begin with; I really enjoyed this as a motif as it really makes the band come full circle and aware of their surroundings! Anyhow, this track is perfect for them to end on, like the credits to a heartbreaking indie film that I would have obsessively based my life around in my teenage years.
Clean Shirt:
Tess L.K. Davey – vocals
Dan Brown – lead guitar
Ollie Maxwell – rhythm guitar
Chris Langenberg – bass guitar
Tom Webb – drums
Clean Shirt setlist:
‘Answer To Everything’
‘Clouded’
‘Foxglove’
‘Swaying’
‘Sweet Sweet Sad’
‘Breath’
‘Fools View’
While Clean Shirt and CIEL are completely new experiences for me in my live music odysseys, the Brighton-based Belmondo are solid favourites of mine and have been for the last year or so now since I saw them support Polite Bureaux at the Green Door Store along with Jar of Blind Flies and Dirty Faces back in April last year. Formed by one Brit, one Swiss and two French musicians, Belmondo have been intertwining themselves with Brighton’s live scene with their distinctive array of goth-tinged industrial rock, selling out several shows and even finding themselves on a support bill with alternative rockers Filter for an 18-date tour in March across Europe and the UK. The quartet take a brief moment to say “hi” before guitarist Laurent Lesaffre subtly pulls in a chorus-layered riff that quickly breaks into heavy and high-octave musical severity. Lead singer and bassist Carmen Mellino takes a very misanthropic tone of voice with her lyrics underneath Laurent and lead guitarist and co-vocalist Kelan Moore’s sophisticated chord work and syncopated riffs. One of my favourites in the Belmondo repertoire, ‘Pachyderm’ plays around with electronics in the introduction before drummer Jules Freiss adapts a tom-heavy pattern… at first! His frequent rhythmic switch-ups are a key characteristic of the band’s sound as are the waves of distorted guitars that flourish across the stage.
The band demonstrate a strong sense of dynamic control on ‘Getting Closer’, a track with angst on full blast and Kelan proudly strutting across his corner of the stage. Speaking of Kelan, he takes lead vocal duties on the track ‘Ventriloquists’ while Carmen supplies crunchy as hell bass lines that add a great texture to the band’s sound. Now, we come to my favourite track of the set, ‘The Journey Of Moses On The Nile’; by far the sludgiest sounding track of the set, Carmen ends up delivering her best vocal performance here with these great falsetto changes across the verses, while Laurent and Kelan have tons of fun singing the song’s title lyric to each other from the back of the stage. A complete guitar switch up between Carmen, Laurent and Kelan is made heading into the song ‘Bethlehem’ which is a more simplistic song in terms of chords and structure, but still carries that unique Belmondo sound that I love dearly. Kelan ditches his guitar for the penultimate ‘RTD’ (standing for “read the description”) and dances in the crowd, displaying his strongest vocal performance of the set atop the band’s fantastic grooves and murky guitar riffs, like a nightmare disco! A classic Belmondo song to close out with, ‘The Gods They Know’ feels like a disoriented salsa with chugging guitar lines and disjointed drum rhythms that push and pull the listener into oblivion. Despite several cries of “encore”, and “one more song”, the band quietly packed down their set-up to make way for CIEL.
Belmondo:
Carmen Mellino – vocals, bass
Kelan Moore – guitar, vocals
Laurent Lesaffre – guitar
Jules Freiss – drums
Belmondo setlist:
‘Who Is To Blame’
‘Pachyderm’
‘Getting Closer’
‘Ventriloquists’
‘The Journey Of Moses On The Nile’
‘Bethlehem’
‘RTD’
‘The Gods They Know’
By now, I can hardly move for space in The Hope & Ruin, now full to the rafters with CIEL fans patiently awaiting their grunge pop icons. The trio make their way onto the stage in moody blue lighting with streaks of LED lighting adorning the sides of the stage platform. Ruby assumes her position on the guitar and opens the set on ‘Back To The Feeling’ with droning feedback before Tim slams in a motorik drum beat. Michelle’s angelic vocal delivery seconds her driving bassline, under which sits an incredibly powerful sub-bass from the band’s backing track. The band have already created a cavernous soundscape as they reach the song ‘Seeking’ with thunderous bass and drum arrangements underneath Michelle and Ruby’s reverb-heavy harmonies. Michelle stops for a moment to say hi to the Brighton crowd, and remarks on her previous job working at The Hope & Ruin bar (a fact I was amazed to hear!). The song ‘Circles’ has a more minimal introduction, before Tim provides some snare-based build-ups within an intricate drum groove just as the song reaches dynamic peak. Ruby even introduces some great disjointed guitar chords in the pre-chorus that scratches my brain in the right places.
‘Somebody’ takes a more poppier approach in its chord progression and song runtime, but that doesn’t stop Tim flexing his drumming prowess as his grooves seem to be growing stronger with each passing song! Despite being a little quiet in the mix, Michelle’s vocals are hauntingly beautiful in this oceanic soundscape the song ‘Make It Better’ provides. This track carries a grungier edge with Ruby’s guitarwork winning over the CIEL crowd, despite their long-lasting appreciation for former guitarist Jorge Bela Jimenez. ‘Awake’, is by far, the band’s most progressive cut in the set, with Michelle dropping her bass and taking centre stage against some very heavy sub-bass and electronic drum textures. There are plenty of moments where she and Ruby share some gorgeous harmonies before she begins flourishing a shaker in the bridging moments of the song. ‘Far Away’ kicks things back into forward motion with a less linear groove and a pummelling dynamic progression that the band work within faultlessly. Talking of working faultlessly, Tim’s rhythmic changes are monolithic to behold on the track ‘Naked’, which does have an ethereal 2-Tone sound to it, but runs surprisingly groovy nonetheless.
What’s this?! A raffle? Upon entering The Hope & Ruin, Love Thy Neighbour’s Andy Rossiter kindly supplied us with a ticket number each in the hopes of winning some lovely CIEL-themed prizes! Unfortunately, I didn’t win anything, but two lucky fans, one of whom was right next to me, won a CIEL tote bag and a vinyl of their latest double EP ‘Make It Better / Rather Be Alone’. After celebration, the band head back into play with the post-punky one-two hits of ‘Jealousy’ and ‘Pictures’, both of which feature doom-induced melodies and expertly-arrangement electronic tracks in the background for Tim to groove his way around. Entering the last leg of the set, ‘Shut In My Body’ is introduced as a song about not feeling safe walking down the street as a woman, sitting within a faster tempo and more krautrock vibes in its energy. My favourite track of the night, ‘Baby Don’t You Know’ has an utterly sweet melody that reminds me of dream pop icons Alvvays, with an eternally nocturnal sound palate to boot. Michelle takes a brief moment to plug the double EP and to say thanks for coming to a sold-out Hope and Ruin before playing the song ‘Talk’, where her vocals drift into sarcastic lyrical deliveries, playing off so well! A seamless transition brings us to the closing ‘Fine Everything’, a haunting and disorienting track that encapsulates everything CIEL have been supplying the crowd with all night: a grungy, yet oceanic atmosphere, a drive that mesmerises you from start to finish, and a subtle energy that you’ll be left admiring for days!
The exciting thing for me when writing reviews for Brighton and Hove News is, after covering some more relatively big-name artists like The Vaccines, Scouting for Girls or Paolo Nutini, which are all fun to watch and experience live, the gritty and stimulating sensation that comes when going to a grassroots-based show is something that those kind of artists and venues could never hope to live up to; if you want to experience close-up chaos, an intensity you could never describe and a chance to watch upcoming bands blossom and grow into something inspiring, then a night with Clean Shirt, Belmondo and CIEL is the perfect musical night out!
CIEL:
Michelle Hindriks – vocals, bass
Ruby Taylor – guitar
Tim Spencer – drums
CIEL setlist:
‘Back To The Feeling’
‘Seeking’
‘Circles’
‘Somebody’
‘Make it Better’
‘Awake’
‘Far Away’
‘Naked’
‘Jealousy’
‘Pictures’
‘Shut In My Body’
‘Baby Don’t You Know’
‘Talk’
(encore)
‘Fine Everything’
