London’s Desperate Journalist kicked off their UK tour at Southend’s Chinnerys last week. Playing for Indie Cult Club, it marked the run-up to their fifth album, ‘No Hero,’ which is out on September 27th via Fierce Panda Records.
*image courtesy of Indie Cult Club
Five tracks from No Hero feature in the set, with latest single ‘You Say You’re Lonely’ and ‘Unsympathetic Parts 1 & 2’ shining brightest. The former was nothing short of a pin-drop moment. The pain and anguish oozing through front woman Jo Bevan’s vocal was intoxicating at times, but she cut through it with the aid of the sumptuous keys, and her vocal uplifts that were worthy of pop music royalty. It’s so easy to see why Brett Anderson loves this band; it’s less so to understand why they’re not national treasures. On ‘Unsympathetic Parts 1 & 2’, bassist Simon Drowner’ bass playing is hitting its peak on the latter. Flitting between hopeful and crushing, pulling the intimate Southend faithful from dark to light whilst guitarist Rob Harvey sprinkled cinematic shimmering guitars to build an aching atmosphere.
Over the past three studio albums, the band has become a masterclass of emotional depth and gothic textures. But when they launch into the free-flowing "Why Are You So Boring?" Two songs in, they remind everyone that every so often, pop majesty lies beneath the blackened eyeliner.
It’s not all emotion-fraying Johnny Marr licks and Cocteau Twins moonlit eloquence. The mid-point is set ablaze by the poignant rollercoaster of ‘Cedars’. When they let their melodic instincts loose, Bevan goes from cult hero to rock icon. Her vocal wrapping around Harvey’s ecstatic guitars proves that band chemistry is still worth dying for. In set closer ‘Satellite’, they have a behemoth record of sending any crowd home with their jaw dragging the streets in awe.
Their backward, misspent youth gave the intimate Southend crowd something to cling to with teenage obsessive levels of devotion. Some bands entertain, but some can impart a devotion, a connection, that makes you howl their brilliance into the night in the hope that everyone will listen. Desperate Journalist are that band.