LIVE REVIEW: Press To MECO @ The Black Heart, London

Tarnishing PRESS TO MECO as a “guilty pleasure” band would be a very easy thing to do. The music they make is not what you’d typically label “cool”. There’s a remarkable attention to detail with the intricacies of the songs they’ve released previously on Good Intent and presently on Here’s To The Fatigue, something you don’t find with the more instantly appealing music in the rock and pop stratosphere.

The argument exists that those who don’t appeal to what’s trendy or “in” can indeed go on as trailblazers of unexplored musical territory, and while this remains to be seen with this band, a hefty wager would point to them as the canary in the coalmine for a future of interesting music penetrating mainstream culture. You wouldn’t have any trouble convincing the attendants of The Black Heart tonight though, here for the release show of the band’s second album; Here’s To The Fatigue. To some tonight, this is already the best band in the world and have been for some time and to their credit, they do have a strong case with their discography already. Here’s To The Fatigue is already garnering a reputation as an album of great significance and while time can only tell its exact weight in the present musical climate, what’s really important tonight is how those songs translate in the live environment…

Taking to the stage first however were emo four-piece FUTURE LOVE, who also shared the stage with tonight’s headliners last January on the DON BROCO tour. At first they carry the atmosphere of a rag-tag team of musicians banding together for the show but when they get going with their set, their unification in the music is clear as day. Their super animated, enthusiastic, face-pulling drummer holds it all together in a hard-hitting, proficient and confident manor while the guitar-wielding trio at the front provide the bleeding heart and aching soul of the group. Their sound, while comfortably in the realm of emo, benefits massively from the aforementioned drummer injecting these great pockets of groove. Naturally it goes down well with the sparse yet spirited Black Heart.

Rating: 6/10

Armed with a much wider pallet of dynamics, WALLFLOWER extended the emo tendencies of the previous band, both vocally and instrumentally by adding screams and electric drum pads that, at points are vaguely reminiscent of ALT-J. Despite the expansion of the typical emo sound here, a touch after halfway through the set it seems the band settle into a resting state of performance from which they never fully emerge from. On the contrary, it’s refreshing to get the first (and last) dash of aggression with their screaming, and although it seemed improbable at the time, their drummer was hitting harder than the last, yet this only distracts slightly from the nature of the set, particularly considering what follows it. Perhaps with a broader emotional approach, WALLFLOWER can enhance their live experience because the instrumental backbone is already firmly there.

Rating: 5/10

Very little could possibly take the focus of the night away from The Black Heart‘s headliners tonight. Despite the stunted 150 capacity of the upstairs room, people are still craning their necks to get a better view as the three members of PRESS TO MECO hit the stage for this, their album release show. It’s been a mere two weeks that their second full length record has been out and yet, firm words of it being “their greatest work yet” are bouncing off the walls.

Familiar Ground is a phenomenal show opener by any standards; defiant, lively and fist-in-the-air joyous. Grins creep across every face in the room. While a full play-through of the record would’ve been cool, a fair bunch of Good Intent material slots in seamlessly in their hour long set. An early placing of If All Your Parts Don’t Make A Whole is brilliantly received. Hearing these songs properly brought to life is fantastic and PRESS TO MECO are pitch-perfect throughout. Neither the technical wizardry, nor the titanic melodies are sacrificed in the live environment. This band are the real deal.

Despite the fresh nature of the record, there’s already a potent feeling of familiarity palpable in the room. This extends to the album tracks too, particularly with Howl and A Quick Fix, the latter of which coaxes a guest slot from the drummer of FUTURE LOVE, a keen fan of the new record who joins for the closing refrain. It would’ve been a real injection of energy to the set if PRESS TO MECO weren’t already firing on 10 in such an enclosed, intimate venue. It’s these two tracks in particular that show the juggling dichotomy of heaviness, pop catchiness and the songwriting wisdom that marries the two, inherent in the band.

Even having played just about everything from Here’s To The Fatigue bar White Knuckling, Skip The Crawl and All The Things We Don’t Talk About, their hour-long set flies by. With the title track (arguably the pinnacle of the album) and an encore of Family Ties closing the show, the whole affair is very fleeting. What they do is as interesting as it is unique as it is simply irresistible. The potential they have is one of staggering proportion and deceptive ease. Now that we’ve seen them rule at their headline shows and hold their own alongside the heavyweights, it’s time to see them make the leap to the bigger stages. This is a band that needs to be heard by the public at large. Let’s make it happen.

Rating: 9/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Jorden Mclaughlin Photography here: