1,333 THE MYSTERINES, Bristol Rough Trade Records, Wednesday 12th June 2024

 

It sometimes pays to put your name on a waiting list…! I’d seen the Mysterines at Rough Trade records doing an acoustic CD release show for their debut effort “Reeling”, just over 2 years and exactly 120 gigs ago (gig 1,213!), but our paths hadn’t crossed since, their subsequent tours usually clashing with holidays or other pre-booked stuff for me. In fact, I didn’t immediately book this one, another low-key acoustic Rough Trade instore to celebrate their forthcoming sophomore album, “Afraid Of Tomorrows”, as it clashed with a possible work thing, but when that was cleared up, it was already sold out! Bah! Still, I chanced my arm with the waiting list, and my patience was rewarded with a ticket a couple of days beforehand. Result! So, a chance to see if this promising young Liverpool band’s new material matched up to the debut album’s guitar-heavy, post-punk/gothy/emo-esque dark and anthemic tuneage, overlaid by the unique low-register, world weary voice of Lia Metalfe, a young woman who clearly sold her soul to the devil at the crossroads for her Waits/ Cohen/ Patti Smith-like tones…

 Drove down for 6.30 arrival, joining the queue outside the shop (and choosing not to jump in with occasional gig buddy Alfie near the front, because I hate folks who do that) and getting in shortly afterwards. Unfortunately, no CD to collect today; the release was delayed (something to do with Taylor Swift, Lia mentioned at the end of the set, not entirely seriously…) so the band were signing art prints afterwards instead. I mooched around the shop then grabbed a spot near the front, house right, next to a gaggle of chattering and excitable girls, and waited… and waited… for the band’s entrance…

Lia and the boys eventually took the stage at a weary ¼ to 8, Lia taking a stool centre stage before informing us (in her thick Scouse speaking voice, completely at odds with her dark, mahogany singing tones) that the set would consist of new material only, thence easing into the creepy, haunting mid-paced opener “Stray”. This sounded promising, with an ascending choral hook testing the vocalist, and “The Last Dance”, next up, was another eerie, stripped back and parched paean with a backwoods murder ballad atmosphere, featuring an unrequited yearning chorus from Lia. However, after Lia praised Bristol for being one of their favourite places to play (“we always think it’s the North of the South!”), subsequent early numbers ploughed a similar furrow and felt all much of a muchness, and I was praying in vain for a more upbeat track (such as the debut album’s “Life’s A Bitch…” or the quite brilliant “All Those Things”) just to break up the mid-paced and actually a bit plodding really flow… 

“Inside The Matchbox”, despite being another slower number, was however a step above the previous material on display in songwriting terms, a mournful and plaintive Hersh-like creep-fest with some baroque Love-like fretwork from guitarist Callum Thompson; then they finally delivered a more upbeat dramatic number in the jagged bluesy rocker “Junkyard Angel”, apparently a semi-autobiographical piece from Lia. At last! Things continued to improve thereafter, as Lia announced, “we’re all going to cheer up now”, the subsequent “Sink Ya Teeth” being a flippant glam psych rocker and the best so far by some distance. “So Long”, a widescreen haunting, elegiac and rather lovely ballad, almost matched it, however, and after profuse thanks from Lia, the album title track and closing number “Afraid Of Tomorrows” was a bouncy number with an almost rockabilly feel (or more skiffle actually, when rendered acoustically as tonight), reminding me of The Shudders (!), and closing out a lengthy 1 hour set. A proper set of two halves, this, with the later material for me possessing much higher quality than the opening clutch of numbers. Again, though, I should – and will – reserve judgement, until I hear it all fully “amped up”…

I’d made my way to the back towards the end of the set, so was early to meet the band and get my art print signed. This time, however, I was happy to inform a buoyant Lia and the boys that I will soon hear the new material given the full band treatment, as they’re playing 2000 Trees in July, and I’ll be there! Home for just after 10 after an uneven but overall worthwhile performance from this young band; definitely worth putting my name on the waiting list for, so now let’s see how the new stuff sounds when they “bring the noise” at Trees!