Desperate Journalist played a soaring set and proved they’re a band on the rise when they launched their new single at the 100 Club
This was the launch party for Hesitate – the new single from their self-produced debut album, which was released in January – and it was a celebration of a band playing brilliantly crafted songs with plenty of guts.
It’s hard to label Desperate Journalist, assuming you’re a fan of labels that is. Indie rock feels like a safe bet but they also straddle post-punk with goth and dark pop sensibilities. When I first heard the album the comparison that instantly jumped into my head was The Smiths, with Rob Hardy’s guitar jangling away and Jo Bevan’s powerful and intense vocals. The songs are mostly similar in style but never really feel samey, which is a testament to the intelligence of their songwriting.
Live they are heavier and more captivating than I expected. Hardy punches out the surging melodies on his twelve string rickenbacker. The appropriately named Caz Hellbent smashes her drums with real venom. Simon Drowner powers through on bass. Bevan spends most of the set with the microphone lead wrapped around her neck and seems to be using the entirety of her slight frame to release that huge voice, sometimes bent over near the floor as the lyrics burst forth. This band look as great as they sound on stage, each with their own personal style and level of intensity in their performance. It’s a dramatic show and I find the hairs standing up on the back of my neck.
Highlights for me were Hesitate, which was belted out with real venom, and Bevan’s yodelling vocals on Wait reminding me of The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan. They finished the set with Elizabeth My Organ, which begins with a cover of Elizabeth My Dear by The Stone Roses and shifts into their own Organ. After much whooping and shouting from the dancing throng in front of the stage, they returned for a simply stunning, rocked-up and near unrecognisable (in a good way) cover of Bruce Springsteen’s State Trooper.
It was an unexpected, and also fitting, end from a mesmerising band elevating their fierce and independent brand of genre-busting music to new heights.
Set list
Control
O
Phase
Hesitate
Remainder
Wait
Happening
Cristina
Heartbeats
Cement
Elizabeth My Organ
Encore:
State Trooper
Visit the Desperate Journalist website