Hoxton Hall
London
Words by Laura Martin
Photos by Dan Wilton

For a band who have barely been together for 10 months, Chew Lips knew how to make a dramatic entrance. The south London electro trio had – literally – the perfect stage to launch their new album, Unicorn, in an intimate gig, as the venue was Hoxton Hall, a stunning, tiny, restored Victorian music hall.

From a darkened stage, two faceless electroid bookends hunched over their Korgs, banging out the digital rhythms. Flashing strobe lights made it almost impossible to look directly at the set but for the boys in the band -  James Watkins and Will Sanderson – it seems this is just the way they like it. Building the layers of sound, charismatic lead singer Tigs, burst onto the stage and picked up the drawling lyrics on intro track “Eight”, then straight into “Play Together.”

Dressed in gold lame ballgown, Tigs is a pure Debbie Harry-meets-Karen O performer, with her unique, confident voice carrying tracks “Toro” and “7″ while prowling and posing around the stage. “Can we get the lights up a bit in here?“, she asks, as the onstage darkness threatens to become onstage blindness for the band.

The band have been heralded as one to watch for 2010, and their music seems like the next logical step from last year’s big hitters, La Roux. So of course there’s plenty of 80s tinged beats and synths, borrowing from infectious pop Duran Duran to electronic god Giorgio Moroder.

But unlike La Roux, who never really managed to deliver any emotion in her highly stylised tracks, Tigs offers more heart to Chew Lips tracks, clawing at the sky for tracks “Salt Air” – which hints at a drink driving escapade – and the wistful “Slick”.

It was a short, nine song set for the Kitsune signed band. The tiny crowd (the capacity of the venue was barely 100) meant the gig lacked a little in atmosphere, but as the band played their biggest hit,  “Solo”, the refrain “We don’t wanna wait/There’s no time/No time”  proved their time – and sound – is perfectly 2010.

EIGHT

PLAY TOGETHER

TORO

7

SLICK

SALT AIR

KAREN

GOLD KEY

SOLO