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Jul 18, 2023 By Irina Shtreis Web Exclusive

The show takes place nearly a month after Heavenly’s live reunion at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, organised in the wake of the reissue of their four albums. Their appearance in West London is recalled by some of the long-term fans who are also present at The Lexington. Despite them having a cult following in the early 90s and later, Heavenly were out of the trendy course. Their melodious 60s-infused songs suggested time travel back to the days of French yé-yé with a tinge of garage which didn’t meet many expectations of the music press desperately trying to seek out the sound of the future.

As half of the line-up, namely Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey, migrated from Heavenly, it doesn’t come as a surprise that some members of the audience wear T-shirts with the evocative butterfly logo. Other members, frontman Hue Williams and drummer Ian Button, were in The Pooh Sticks and Papernut Cambridge respectively. Nevertheless, the focus is on their current project. Most songs are taken from Swansea Sound’s next album Twentieth Century. Although the sound and title sum up the aesthetics of the preceding projects, the live version of Swansea Sound occupies a slightly different territory. Sonically balancing between rumbustious rock ‘n’ roll and tuneful psych-tingedpower-pop, their songs serve as a social commentary. One of them, “Keep Your Head On”, warns an unexpecting listener: “Keep your head on, cos they will do / Anything to gaslight you”. Despite the references to the bleak post-Brexit reality, there is cheer in the air. They have a funny banter between the songs (“Oh, she is going to play the guitar now”, Hue pointing at Amelia. “No, go for it!”) and later raffle off original editions of their records from the stage. All visitors were given lottery tickets at the entrance. By the bar, founder of Precious Recordings of London Nick Godfrey introduces everyone to the wonders of tombola offering one of the coloured Loser badges as a prize. This hints at the self-ironic and positive attitude that defined the world of Heavenly, The Pooh Sticks etc. and is still integral to Swansea Sound as well as their fans. Laughing at yourself and keeping your head on is probably the only productive way to cope with the current reality.