LIVE REVIEW: Spanish Love Songs @ Engine Rooms, Southampton

With the release of 2023’s No Joy not long behind them, it is due time for SPANISH LOVE SONGS to grace UK soil once more. This time, they come with a new attitude. No Joy has swayed from the band’s previous discography frequently drawing comparisons to JAWBREAKER and THE MENZINGERS with their self-deprecating flare, now onto a more nuanced, intricate approach with a sprinkling of more optimism. Tonight, they open the tour in Southampton, bringing along SUDS and HEART ATTACK MAN.

SUDS join the bill with a welcomed blend of indie-emo-folk. On paper, that may sound like a warped cacophony. But in practice, it’s a gracious mix with a soothing presence. The band steadily pedal through their set, with a backdrop of warm lights and a touch of fog. Even from the back of the room, the quartet have an ability to make the audience feel seen, oozing intimacy in their subtlety. Tracks from their most recent release, The Great Overgrowth, engage with bouncy drums and twiddly guitars, while vocalist Maisie Cater cuts through with her delicate vocals capable of any lullaby.

Rating: 7/10

HEART ATTACK MAN waltz onto stage with all guns blazing, wasting no time in picking up the room’s energy. Their sound hails back to infectious 00s trailblazers like SUM 41, but with a new approach to crowd-pleaser hooks. Eric Egan catapults himself into the air on numerous occasions before flinging straight into one of his angsty ear-worm deliveries. The band reference their soft spot for the UK in between tracks saying how “lucky” they are to tour here regularly. While the band are from Ohio, they are right at home on British soil; with a sound that ignites any audience, lending itself well to the chaotic crowd participation the UK is often notorious for.

Rating: 8/10

SPANISH LOVE SONGS need no bells or whistles to command tonight’s crowd. Since 2013, they’ve gained a following of dedicated fans, sure to passionately sing back just as loudly as the band to any of the choruses in their discography. They open the set with I’m Gonna Miss Everything under a cloud of blue wash lights; the band are barely visible but the devastating lyrics of the opening verse pierce through until the they appear just in time for the pre-chorus. From the first note, it’s clear that this is a cathartic band for most of the 600 people in the Engine Rooms tonight.

The instruments that create the canvas for these shaking vocal deliveries run in parallel in their gut-wrenching sensibilities. The band is tight, with not a note out of place. It’s obvious that all SPANISH LOVE SONGS do comes from a sincere place of care, transparency and feeling. A standout moment from the set is Kick from 2020’s Brave Faces Everyone. The song dances between melodic guitar drills and guttural pauses before launching right back into the signature SPANISH LOVE SONGS hook of “the world’s gonna kick you either way”.

During older material such as Routine Pain and Losers 2, the crowd swells as several dozens of hands raise in the air, dictating the painful words right back at Dylan Slocum. There’s a shared experience between the band and the audience, each exchange of wailing shouts is matched in energy and passion; proving that SPANISH LOVE SONGS make this ilk of emotional music still very much alive and relevant.

Rating: 8/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Southampton from Dev Place Photos here: 

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