Debut gigs are tough. Tough to play, tough to review. Expectations do that to music; and when a bands first headline gig is in deepest-trendiest-Hoxton, preconceptions are difficult to escape. What you need is to see an artist step up and make the presumptions obsolete. Taking this in his stride, RightClickSaveAs delivered the type of performance tonight, at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, that starts buzzes.
RCSA takes the vibrancy and hit-the-chorus ideals of indie pop and applies an electro aesthetic, allowing songs to flow like an electro banger and drop choruses with flooring melodies. Opener Fountain highlights this early on, utilising the progressive song structures of electro to present us with several catchy melodies before any chorus has really dropped. But drop it does, and with the euphoria of any Justice mix.
Other electro influences, from early house music, in the aptly titled House, to the glitch of set closer Pretty, seep through the show like a DJ mix, presenting a slick set of danceable, energetic and memorable tracks. But it’s during the encore that we get a glimpse of how the ideas form in RCSA’s head. An acoustic version of Drown uses flowing guitar lines that build upon each other like synths; his fusion of guitar music and electronic music at its most bare.
RCSA’s nervous energy and soaring vocals are complimented by the performances of his band, an impressively tight and confident set of musicians who you sense have helped these songs become as well-oiled as they already are. Even tackling a technical glitch during one song, this was an impressive, confident, polished performance that told the audience that RightClickSaveAs is one to look out for the future.
