PATTY HEARST

We were mega excited to welcome Patty Hearst for our February session in the Holden Gallery (Film Room). Here is their full set in UHD, enjoy.

Listen:

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https://pattyhearst.bandcamp.com/

Review of the show

by Manvir Sohal (MMU Filmmaking Student)

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Intimacy to performance at gigs are often quite an individualist experience. Especially in the age of technology where you often find most people watching a gig through their phone. A concert where a crowd unanimously have a shared direct connection to the bands performing is very rare. Sometimes even impossible.

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That short and melodramatic statement brings us to the topic of ‘Chew Magna’ and ‘Patty Hearst’ at The Holden Gallery. It could certainly be defined as an intimate performance. Crammed into a small room that only got hotter the longer the gig went on. It felt like a trendy event that people would go to in an indie film. But what the Holden Gallery’s small room presented was a direct, and sometimes uncomfortable, connection to the performers in front of you. A stray yawn from the audience can be overtly noticed by the band giving their performance everything they’ve got. Similarly, a bored band or poor performance can be explicitly noticed by the audience. This deal cuts both ways. Creating a bind that forces everyone to be their most present selves.

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‘Chew Magna’ in a live setting possess a raw style that practically forces you to pay attention to them. Not that it’s a hard task. Distorted guitars and high tempo drums build into a grungy, loud sense of rhythm that only becomes more hypnotic over their shorter, but arresting set. The band’s music, naturally structured to build into heavy breakdowns, suits a live surrounding well where they can only elevate these songs. The band’s musicality came into the foreground frequently, in particular in one musical interlude between songs, creating a more delicate and calm atmosphere.

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‘Patty Hearst’ were second on, the band’s sound skews more into a punk edge than ‘Chew Magna’, with a harder 70’s drive in the rhythm. The sound holds deceptively diverse influences though. The vocal style and melodies, often more understated and more emotive than the instruments around them, feel heavily influenced by New Wave music. This blend of influences creates a sound that has a lot of energy in it. One of ‘Patty Hearst’s’ greatest strengths as a live band is performing their music with the same kind of passion and energy.

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‘Patty Hearst’ and ‘Chew Magna’ at the Holden Gallery, as a concert, had lots of interesting variables going for it. A space that only heightened the relationship between audience and performer. Bands that, despite the smaller crowd and more intimate setting, still gave their performances so much life. 

Both Patty Hearst’s ‘Patty Hearst - EP’ and Chew Magna’s ‘The White Hotel’ EP are available on Spotify, Bandcamp and Apple Music.

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