It was Simon Reynolds who made the argument that, as the decades have gone by, the overall quality of music has increased, but with it the spikes of genius that punctured and altered pop culture irrevocably have been dulled and lessened. When you first hear MONEY – and if you’ve not, have a go on their new track Hold Me Forever below – then you get the sensation of witnessing one of those ever more rare spikes. Stark yet confident, simple yet startlingly complex, they have the bloggerati and tastemakers in their thrall – and with their debut album The Shadow of Heaven coming on Bella Union on 26 August, it shouldn’t be long until the mainstream follows. Having recently finished a UK tour that involved Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham and, er, Hebden Bridge, this is their first set of Manchester shows for a while – and with past performances involving singer Jamie Lee handing out manifestos, standing on chairs and crooning Jerusalem, it’s impossible to know what might happen – though the premise is that they’ll play their stunning LP in full.
Fri 12 – Sat 12 Jul, Pavilion Theatre, Festival Square, Albert Square, 8.30pm, £12, www.mif.co.uk
- Words:
- Matthew Britton
- Published on:
- Mon 1 Jul 2013