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Xylitol

Jan 09, 2024 By Nick Roseblade Photography by Nick Roseblade Web Exclusive

The Spirit of Gravity has been putting on nights in Brighton for, well, bloody ages. Longer than anyone really cares to think about. Their nights lean more into experimental and avant-garde music than conventional 4/4 white meat babyface guitar bands. This evening’s gig is now different. The line up is one of the strongest I’ve seen for a while. Plurals are an electronic duo whose music fits on a Venn diagram between Giant Swan, Krautrock, BBC Radiophonic and SWANS. Expedient Self is a solo guitarist who uses loop pedals to create lurid soundscapes and Xylitol feels like a Brighton institution on her own. Her music has one foot on the dance floor and one eye to the cosmos. This was going to be a very exciting night indeed!

Plurals took to the stage first. It was their first Brighton gig in, well, ages so anticipation was as high as the room’s capacity. Their set started slow and broody. Electronics swell, condensed and billowed some more. Instead of performing with all their kit on a table, it was strewn across the small stage’s floor. Everything Plurals needed was at arms rest. The problem with this set-up is that my view was obscured. So, whilst enjoying the textured fugs of sound, I was trying to work out how they were created. My conclusion, based on limited view and musical knowledge, was “synths and shit”. This is the problem with being short and arriving late. As the set continued the projected visuals became more and more frenzied. It was like someone had taken a child’s kaleidoscope and recorded it. Then run it through an array of filters to create even more abstract shapes that fold in and out of each other. At one point it looked like a crab’s face was being elongated until it was just shaping again. By the halfway mark Plurals were just RAGING! Cymbals were being attacked with violin bows. Guttural vocals were being processed to create lurid melodies and a guitar was being tortured. It was wonderful. Then the music and visuals locked, and it was like the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. We were being propelled through a tunnel of hypnotic visuals while the music got more and more intense and beautiful. Then it all stopped. There was a pause and the crowd exploded into applause. This is how you kick off a night. In fairness Plurals should have been the headliner, given their longevity and performance.

After a short interval Expedient Self started his set. From the offing his intricate guitar loops contrasted, and paralleled Plurals, perfectly. Their set was bombastic. Everything was textured but overlayed in a way that created confusion. Expedient Self only used a guitar, and half a dozen effect pedals to create his hypnotic soundscapes. The set featured two new songs, which he opened with. They showed a growth in song writing and composition. It’s hard to know how much of these songs will appear on future releases and how much was improvised at the moment, but they were captivating. The second features quasi surf vibes. After the opening salvo “Palimpsest” and “Youth”, from the Chairs EP followed. These were much more elongated and freer than their recorded versions. This gave them a new life. They were lithe and full of energy. There were sections of the gig where a vocal sample was played through a phone, through the guitar pickups. This was then looped and skewed into garbled sounds. It reminded me of being a kid and messing about with radios. When you got near a signal you could tell it was voices, but they were distressed, and bleeding with static, that it was garbled. This technique worked so well with the guitar loops that the spoken word sample took on its own rhythm and melody. Adding another texture to the song. Near the end of the set the visuals, which had been fairly safe and angular, started to become more frenzied. At one point they resembled an ultrasound image on the fritz. It was terrifying and beguiling at the same time. You couldn’t look away. Then, almost too quickly, the set was over.

Finally, Xylitol graced the stage. Cat Backhouse has been releasing music under the Xylitol moniker for the best part of two decades. Her brand of jungle kosmische (roughly translated to cosmic music), was a fine way to end the evening. Backhouse’s set opened with sparse electronics that painted a celestial obsidian soundscape. Despite its depth the music was also playful. The melodies were catchy. It was all very ethereal. Then the beat kicked in. Hulking breakbeat/drum n’ bass filled the tiny room. You couldn’t help but move. 10-mins into her set some people moved to the front and started to sway and bob. This changed the atmosphere in the room. It became joyous. People started to dance. The crowd ebbed and flowed, according to your preference for dancing. The dancers moved to the front and the static members of the crowd moved to the back. No words were spoken but everyone knew their place and didn’t encroach on others. As the set continued Xylitol’s music became more rampant and euphoric. There were moments when things were brought down, which displayed Backhouse’s deft touch and understanding of her craft, but then it went up again. The visuals were in cue with what was happening on stage, and on the floor. It was a symbiotic relationship. Inevitably, the set came to, and end and it was time to go home.

The Spirit of Gravity has proved time and time again why it is an institution in Brighton. Their events offer contrasting styles of music, but it all works together. There is a single thread that connects the acts. Tonight’s thread was about hypnotic soundscapes. Despite the contrasting genres, none of the acts on the bill were out of place with each other. They complimented each other. As I travelled home, I mused on this. As I was leaving, I spoke briefly to Geoff, who spearheads the Spirit of Gravity “The next one will be even better!” he claimed. “HOW?” I thought. That promise, however, is more than enough to make me head out next time they have a night in town.