Mystery Jets with P E A C E @ the Gate

After a brief hiatus inspired by real work, travelling the country and a (terrrible) Sound of Guns gig, I returned to Cardiff's live music scene this week to jot down my various words of praise and disdain. On Wednesday I went to the Gate Arts and Community Centre for a much anticipated Mystery Jets gig. It was a mixed blessing but I should start by saying that the venue itself is superb. Gigs take place in the theatre, which is actually a theatre. It's quite large for a Cardiff venue and the atmosphere is fantastic - and you can even sit down!

Onto the music. P E A C E were the lone supporting band that evening, although the amount of time between acts could have easily been filled with another. They started their set sound like 70% (approximately) of the bands I have seen in support this year. Off kilter, kinetic riffs with the sense of copyright infractions of the work of Battles/Foals/Crystal Castles. Pretty standard.
They then changed into rocky night time music with pain. Not emo pain, but loud indie pain.  Reasonably enjoyable with enough interesting and fun bits to see my head bob around a bit. Can't see them expanding greatly but could definitely book them for a sixth form/college party or two. You know, somewhere where everyone knows what its like to be too drunk and miserable. And also likes the Horrors.
The back and forth between indie rock and almost math rock continued for a few songs. High pitched guitar reverb propagating their sound like it does over the desolate wasteland of 2011/12's forgotten support bands. See Soundcloud for examples.
Ending with upcoming singles they sprung into something a lot more enjoyable - and marketable. They revealed more depth and something significantly more upbeat, elements that should be present in the majority of their work. Fingers crossed they latch onto them in reaching new-band-maturity.

After a length pause and time spent queuing in the bar that smelt like a swimming pool (something I quite liked); Mystery Jets arrived. With a new album on the way and having recently suffered the departure of Koi Pond (sorry, Kai Fish) there were no promises of intense familiarity. But still, there were no concessions made and the band stuck firmly with more 'recent' material. By that I mean, Dennis was allowed to continue thinking he could fool them and no one lamented Agnes. Mystery Jets are a band I got the most enjoyment from during my early university years, about half a decade ago (pretty depressed at that realisation), and I would struggle to agree with anyone who said their first album wasn't their best. This is mostly due to a lack of development in their sound, which has its foothold in cockney almost-whimsy and because nothing is more fun than running through campus going "zoo time zoo time zoo time". Hence my disappointment in their refusal to play their really old stuff and while it was pretty fun hearing Show Me The Light, Two Doors Down and Young Love, it wasn't quite the trip down memory lane I was hoping for.
That being said, their new stuff sounded very promising and I will definitely be getting the album on the 30th of this month.