The View From The Bar: ROCH Live

THE VIEW FROM THE BAR - A new column in which we make our very talented bar staff do two jobs at once, by documenting the nights we have inside. They may talk about the acts, they may talk about the crowd, they may forget what happened...who knows what they have in-store for us! For our first instalment,Theo Kotz stops pulling pints for a second and takes us through ROCH's live performance, and his view from the bar.

Though they’re by no means rare, live gigs like this still manage to change how it feels in here. It’s strange witnessing a space normally bouncing rendered silent, and silent it was on Monday as much hyped newcomer ROCH and support act Ruben Green captivated those in attendance.

Alone with a guitar, mic and some pedals, Green’s stage presence belies a serious work-rate in a myriad of art forms, performance-based and otherwise. Progressing through a set of fluctuating tempo and sensibility, we hear deep & earthy soul, a scattered and ethereal rendition of ‘London Bridge is falling down’, delicate storytelling about a girl living in a shoebox and binary-breaking closer ‘I will be your daughter plait my hair’. It’s a madcap set but even though it’s yet to fill up in here the effect on people is palpable.

https://soundcloud.com/r_o_c_h/kintsugi <- CAN'T EMBED! LISTEN TO THIS!

https://soundcloud.com/r_o_c_h/kintsugi <- CAN'T EMBED! LISTEN TO THIS!

By the time ROCH hits the stage space is pretty short. Seems like in the year or so since the first of 3 tracks available premiered a decent amount if people have got to know. All three of aforementioned tracks get a play. ‘Kintsugi’ is played second after a delicate opener and there’s a real weight to it. A couple of minutes in there’s this long, pregnant pause before the first real rattle of bass of the night. Harmonies (not unlike those that catapulted The xx to such heights a few years ago) and stabs of celestial synths push the tune further and it’s definitely a highlight of the set.

The level is brought down again for the next few including debut single ‘Closer’ but it’s those tracks with a groove that stand out. There’s a newer tune with a name I missed that sounds as though written with the live band in mind before latest release ‘Vienna’ carries on in this vein with shallow electronic drum pads and broad synth strokes. Rounding off the set is another with a groove firmly at the fore, bristling at the seams with some e-harpsichord sound before unravelling into a double time drum crescendo and fin.

Definitely someone to look out for in the coming months, ROCH’s series of south-east shows continues at Five Bells on the 28th July and The Nines on the 4th August.

- @theokotz