Live review: Insecure Men display their lush exotica and psychedelia at YES

Record labels don’t want drone albums. When frontman Saul Adamczewski of Fat White Family said a drone album was his next step, the label strongly advised against it. What came out instead was an album rooted in sixties psychedelia. Whilst the abrasive textures of the drone album remain, A Man For All Seasons leans into a melodic, often alt-country sound.  The album was recorded at the legendary Konk Studios, a studio first established by The Kinks. The role of the sixties made itself evident throughout the Insecure Men set at YES Pink Room, the sound heavily leaning on exotica. The nostalgic feeling that came from the lap steel guitar is what makes exotica music, and Insecure Men’s reinvention of it, so instrumentally lush.

Masking his expression with a pair of sunglasses, Adamczewski sat alone centre stage, and launched into 'Tulse Hill Station'. The rest of the band sat in a huddle towards the back of the stage, harmonising and contrasting with his raw, imperfect but beautiful vocals. Continuing on a similar theme, the next song on the setlist was ‘The Ballad Of Paul Skyes’ taken from his solo album. The flute and lap steel player of his band rose from the huddle at the back and took a seat next to Adamczewski, adding lush flute lines to the composition.

Lead single 'Alien' was a return to form. After the medley of quiet, melodic songs at the start of the set, it was a nice change of pace with the glam-rock-esque guitar and a slightly worse-for-wear Lou Reed impression. Closer 'Cleaning Bricks' saw Adamczewski get as low to the stage as he could, hitting his guitar to the floor and screaming into it, delivering a much heavier ending to the catchy, cleaner studio version. Live, the song takes on the grit of a Fat White Family song, but with the charm of Insecure Men powering through.

The gig was short, coming in at just around forty minutes. The crowd lingered for about ten minutes after Insecure Men left the stage, but drifted off as the realisation hit that they weren’t coming back for an encore. It was slightly underwhelming for the return of Insecure Men to have such a short set, not encompassing all of what their discography has to offer. Overall, the performance was emotive, and the musicality was fantastic despite its short length: it can only be hoped that Adamczewski will return for that noise and drone album soon.