No Ceremony/// have a sound fit for big stages. It’s not hard to imagine hearing them at a packed-out Brixton Academy or in a bursting tent at a festival. It’s likely something similar has occurred.
Partly this is because their brand of electro-pop is fairly ubiquitous at the moment. There are a number of bands following The xx/Wu Lyf mould, rolling with sample pads, synths and haunting vocals.
This is not to say that No Ceremony/// are bland. They do manage to stand out in a crowded market.
The Manchester trio have something extra about their production. It certainly wasn’t evident in every track in their 45-minute set and initially they took time going through the gears.
By the time they got through the strongest tracks on their self-titled debut album – FEELSOLOW and HOLDONME – it was clear they have a cutting edge lacking in some of their contemporaries.
At their best, No Ceremony/// built layers of punchy drums and driving synths that it was hard not to jump around and get excited about.
Bigger things are on the band’s horizon: a support slot with Pixies at the iTunes festival may well be a springboard for the size of stage they demand for themselves.
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