TGE 2014 TOP SIX HIGHLIGHTS - BLAENAVON (INDIE, UK)

It seems like ages since Brighton's prestigious little scamp of a music festival, The Great Escape popped up across a variety of clubs, bars and secret locations to showcase new music from several hundred artists around the globe. The ominous thuds of drum sets, the warm smell of spilt beer residue, the fluttering of self-important delegate passes in the coastal breeze, we remember it fondly. So, with all that retrospective sop out of the way, we have come up with a list of our top six highlights (two from each respective day of the festival) of who entertained and who left us baying for more after the lights went down and the club doors closed.
Blaenavon (UK // Audio, Saturday 10th May).



The Hampshire trio of Blaenavon first caught our attention early last year with their steely mood-rock leviathan "Into The Night". It was a brilliant debut that showcased a maturity towards constructing sound that far surpassed their youthful demeanour. With a further year of self development the band have proven they are most definitely not a one-trick-pony as their set list at Audio showed; serving the crowd an armada of progressive alt-rock and scintillating indie medleys, the band managed to generate a fantastic atmosphere buoyed along by the three's irreverent quips and comedic behaviour. 

Blaenavon had this innate ability to channel cathartic guitar riffs and wallowing drum interplay into periodic intervals. Tempos slid around and unravelled playfully to let vocals and lyrics take centre stage; melancholic in places, ushered in others, brash occasionally, the three band members had a mental understanding over what was required and what sounds complimented each other. Nothing was ever audacious, it felt exact and precise. Similar to Wild Beats or Foals. The right amount of everything needed in the right dose to end a fantastic weekend.

Check out Blaenavon's hit "Prague" via the Soundcloud link below then be sure to share, re-tweet, re-post this review to spread the new music love.



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