Froth
Shoegaze masters Froth graced Brudenell Social Club’s games room with dreamy bops to distract from a gloomy election day.
In an evening more surreal than most, with the venue’s main room cordoned off as a polling station for the UK’s general election, little more than a year after the referendum that decided the fate known widely as Brexit, the LA four-piece celebrated the release of their third album, Outside (Briefly). The new installment toes the line between precision and fuzz in a way that marries the two seamlessly. They remain loyal, though, to the lo-fi, frothy (appropriate, as it seems) relaxation they have always delivered, and break new ground in a genre that, in recent years, seems touched upon by just about everyone.
Froth performed songs from it masterfully, deviating from past albums in favor of more defined, cleaner guitar riffs, and long instrumental solos that seem, somehow, in no way self-indulgent. However, they were not afraid to return to some earlier jams (namely “Turn it off” and “Lost My Mind”) performed in much more of a dream-pop style than their surf rock, neo-psychedelic rock sound from years past. In any case, they were, from the swirling dancing in the front row, obviously crowd favorites.