MLEKO have had an outstanding twelve months. Their debut EP The Feast of St. Perpetua landed in April, but even before then, the Manchester band had performed at iconic venues across the country – from the White Hotel to a Deadletter support slot at Projekts Skatepark. The music they make is simultaneously chaotic and intricate, and has now brought them to a YES Basement, where they play a sold-out headline show.
Opening the night was Clive, a band based between Manchester and Leeds. They’ve already appeared at The Windmill, the Brixton venue renowned for nurturing the UK's post-punk scene, so the crowd at YES Basement were in good hands. Clive are kind of a local supergroup, a patchwork of members taken from other bands within the Manchester circuit such as Holly Head.
Their opening song was a mostly instrumental wall of noise, different from ‘Peanut Butter’ the highlight of their set. The song begins softly before a voice rises and the drums spin into a beat reminiscent of a jungle break. The instruments faded out completely at the song's end, leaving room for the singer’s deadpan delivery. Their penultimate track featured a guitar riff so catchy that it was impossible not to hum along by the last chorus, while the closer reverted to the ferocity previously displayed as the singer’s voice reached a screech and guitars were thrashed to an incendiary level.
Bizarrely, MLEKO arrived onstage to the Pharrell Williams-penned theme from Despicable Me, cementing their willingness to provide an alternative to the staid indifference adopted by other bands in their scene. As the seven band members arranged themselves on the tiny YES Basement stage, it became visible that trumpet player Charlotte Nuta and saxophonist Tom Houston stood adorned by crocheted masks in the style of those featured in their ‘Tom’s Tune’ music video and ‘Gub Rock’ visualiser. Although this did have the potential to make audience members question their vision, especially those in the crowd who’d had one pint too many on that particular sunny Friday evening, it was a subtle but effective nod dividing the crowd into confused and knowing halves.
Similarly to Clive, MLEKO’s opening song was purely instrumental aside from a single scream, before vocalist Ed Whirledge’s lyricism was put on display during ‘Gub Rock’. The song began as MLEKO’s debut single, and is now the centrepiece and overall highlight of The Feast of St. Perpetua, beginning with the lines “as I tie myself to rocks, and fill my pockets with gravel, I think of all that I have lost upon the many roads that I have travelled”. It’s a hard-hitting verse fitting for the opening of a track that functions less as a song and more as a statement: the band have been known to use the term ‘Gub Rock’ to describe the style of music they produce.
Twice within ‘Gub Rock’, Whirledge shrieks the line “and then it hits you”, leaving him subsequently surrounded in an explosion of brass and woodwind, courtesy of Nuta and Houston. It’s slightly messy, audibly abrasive and overwhelming in its brilliance. The track is MLEKO at their best, capturing the band's off-kilter instrumentation, atmospheric world-building, and ability to use structure to wring tension out of their songs.
The band’s show at YES Basement served as a glorious homecoming, bringing an end to a tour which took them north to south and back again. Amidst a setlist consisting of debut EP tracks, the band treated their hometown crowd to new material that sounds equally as promising, managing to hold its own despite being in the company of some of the best post-punk tracks released this year.
Many fans of current post-punk music would agree that the trend of utilising saxophone in the genre is the best thing to happen to it. Fellow Manchester act Maruja are renowned for it, while Morgan Wallace’s use of the instrument is an essential component of Fat Dog’s heavy, chaotic energy. Saxophone plays a crucial part in 'Tom's Tune', which closes MLEKO's EP The Feast of St. Perpetua. At nearly eight minutes, it's a sprawling effort, rife with contradictory sounds. Gritty vocals, ferocious drums, cheery trumpet and jangling keyboard all brush shoulders, revealing the outstanding talent of each and every member.
As MLEKO's set reached its conclusion with a song known by the working title of 'White Picket Fences', a mosh pit broke out, leading some band members to appear dotted amongst the crowd. Rory Baker’s final menacing guitar riff left the audience screaming for one more song: the band returned, in the words of Whirledge, “since you asked so nicely”. ‘Lego Sex’ provided the set’s single-song encore, closing the night in a flurry of chaos both onstage and in the mass of crashing bodies below.
MLEKO work because every member has their own individual and magnetic presence, no mean feat for a seven-piece. It’s impossible to avert your eyes from the band when they perform, and they’ve clearly managed to build a firm base of support: the crowd seemed able to sing back every word of their debut EP. What makes MLEKO great is the tension within their music, which possesses the power to keep an audience on edge and invigorate them when necessary. Their stop-start instrumentals, angular post-punk and breakneck structures will leave you waiting: it's all the more satisfying when the drop comes.
https://open.spotify.com/album/23jHBdAVrYSy7MkIPP7weu?si=8b877aa399564f4c
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