Crack

Tonight is Halloween, clubs and bars promote the usual ghoulish events and garish nights. Vampires, zombies and Michael Jacksons populate and surge through town. Streets run red with fake-blood..



Yet, hidden among these garish sights, smug satisfaction gleams from faces standing around a dimly lit room of the Arnolfini. Unadorned with green face paint or draped in toilet paper, the small crowd voice delight and anticipation. Lights begin to warmly glow and haircuts turn. 
The headline act calmly walk onto stage.
 
Mount Kimbie address the audience with quiet appreciation.

Roughly 100 people have attended, all aghast at the serenely intimate setting.
 The duo, comprising Kai Campos and Dom Maker, wear simple casual clothing and short un-styled hair, putting to shame much of the crowds contemporaries as glasses with no lenses and an abundance of kitch knitwear run amok.



A simple, clean drumbeat opens the set.
 
Within moments, their efforts become seamlessly entwined. Switching between instruments, the band build up fluid layers across their unique sound and allow each other to enjoy moments of tangential adlib. 
During the one hour set the pair barely look toward each other, further evidence of either extraordinary rehearsal or an unabashed mutual understanding.



Stopping only briefly for water or air, the pair played just one song from the recent release Crooks and Lovers from start to finish. Yet throughout the gig they utilise a full array of samples that are recognisable from the album and previous EPs, to create new harmonies, gradually relaxing and exposing their favoured synth melodies and closed-loop drum and symbol rhythms. The audience are allowed into their full hypnotic, dreamlike scope.
 
The speed at which the event ended was the only negative aspect of the evening. However, considering a number of acts had already performed prior to Mount Kimbie, this fact should not be dwelled on.


Returning to the bar, groups were overheard all with similar views and all demanding similar answers: “That was incredible. Find out when we see them again.”



Words: George Scrivener

http://www.myspace.com/mountkimbie

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