Tonight found me and S at the Institute for Contemporary Arts (ICA) for the gig to launch Goldheart Assembly’s debut album, ‘Wolves And Thieves‘. I’ve never been at the ICA before, and what an interesting place it is. They have a couple of cinema screens that show small circulation films and several permanent art exhibitions, many of which adorn the walls all around the venue and which you can buy. I was particularly taken by a limited edition screen print that sat above us as we sat in the bar before going into the main theatre space where the gig was being held.
Unfortunately we missed the first support but we did get in in time to see The Crookes, a four piece from Sheffield with a preppy look and a bouncy pop sound not unlike Vampire Weekend or, going back a little further, a bit of a Housemartins vibe. They were very solid and a real turn up from previous support acts that we’ve seen at gigs headlined by Goldheart Assembly, probably due to Goldheart’s increasing reputation.
Golheart Assembly came on about 9:45pm and they’ve clearly been given a bit of a makeover. The beards are still in evidence but instead of the scruffy look we’ve seen, before they’re now kitted out in trendy suit jackets In front of the biggest crowd I’ve seen so far, a far cry from the tiny little audience we saw them perform in front of last year, they gave us most of the tracks from their new album during the gig. Among the tracks they placed were my particular favourites, ‘Last Decade’ and ‘Jesus Wheel’ which are both charming and gentle songs full of rich vocal harmonies and which hark back to a gentler time. For the trainspotters amongst you, most of ‘Wolves and Thieves‘ was recorded at the Forncett Industrial Steam Museum, and some of the tracks feature the sound of steam engines…