other lives. live.

who: other lives

when: 30 october 2011

where: deaf institute, manchester, uk

support: air castles, young galaxy

how can you immediately tell if a band is british or american? exactly - when they say “cheers”, they´re probably british. so it was rather easy to tell that other lives are in fact american which is something i knew before but it was nice to hear them say “thank you very much” after attending four gigs by british bands.

it was the first time i went to the deaf institute in manchester. heard a lot of good things about it and they pretty much all proved to be right. the deaf institute is a nice little venue for small and intimate gigs. the only thing that had me worry a little was the fact that the music hall is situated above the restaurant instead of the basement. depending on the music on stage, i´m sure i´d feel a little queasy being upstairs.

london based trio air castles kicked off the night. formed by lead singer max mansson in 2008, they were invited to play the bbc introducing stage at glastonbury this year. mansson was joined by luke south on guitar and jonathan rogers on drums. their sound is usually described as indie-pop but i honestly think manssons voice kind of refutes this. the drums were too loud to hear him properly. from what i´ve heard though, i think their music is neither indie (mostly because of manssons voice which is too "soft" for indie) nor pop (the guitars sound too heavy). maybe it´s just the live impression though. i´m still having a hard time placing their music.

up next was canadian band young galaxy. dressed completely in white, except for lead singer catherine mccandless, they played a great 7 song set of some of the best dance-pop tunes i´ve heard in a long time. their music has a little indie edge to it but that makes their sound even more perfect for a club night out. originally from montreal, young galaxy consists of stephen ramsay, catherine mccandless, stephen kamp, matthew shapiro and andrea silver on drums. they already released two eps and three albums, the latest one called “shapeshifting”. their sound has something mesmerising that immediately gets you dancing. if you´re looking for some great music for your next house party,  make sure to get some young galaxy lps.

i should probably mention that this was not really an other lives gig with two support acts. the event was advertised as a double bill including young galaxy and other lives, but it certainly felt like the majority of people was there to see other lives. i was having a little paranoid moment when lots of people left the music hall after the young galaxy set but they probably just went outside for a smoke or something. by the time other lives finally came on stage, the venue was packed.

i first saw, or better heard, other lives in august when they played in the haldern pop bar as part of the 28^th haldern pop festival. we arrived too late, so we only got to peek through the open window. what i heard though absolutely impressed me, so it was no surprise that i bought their debut album after their acoustic gig. when i found out they´re coming to manchester, i got myself a ticket and could barely wait to “properly” see one of their gigs.

but what other lives presented last night was truly beyond what i expected. much to my surprise, they managed to fit all of their instruments on the rather small stage (which probably wasn´t that big a challenge for them since they played at the deaf institute before). all five members play several instruments, especially jonathon mooney who seemed to be some sort of multitasking expert playing piano, electric guitar, trumpet, glockenspiel and violin. but the other four certainly knew how to impress as well: josh onstott on bass, percussions and organ, jenny hsu on cello and violin, colby owens on drums and clarinet and lead-singer jesse tabish on acoustic guitar and piano.

their music has so many different sides to it that it´s hard to categorise them. it´s probably mostly folk but with a dark twist, so you can´t deny the alternative, country-rock edge it also has. it is definitely this mixture of many genres that makes them so special. stating the obvious, but jesse´s voice and the gorgeous backing vocals by jenny and josh certainly contribute to the uniqueness that forms the wonderful other lives sound.

other lives released their self-titled debut album back in 2009. coming from stillwater, oklahoma, they released their second album "tamer animals" in america in may this year and later on in august in the uk and europe as well. they played a stunning set of 11 songs (if i counted right) taken from both albums. the setlist included “dark horse”, “for 12”, “old statues”, “as i lay my head down” and many more. the audience´s favourite seemed to be the title track of the new album whereas my absolute highlight was jesse performing “black tables” on his own. haven´t seen his voice shine like this before – absolutely beautiful. however the crowd was really appreciative in every way, applauding and whistling loudly after each song.

if you ever have the chance to catch them live, be sure to buy tickets and see them, otherwise you´ll be sorry later for sure. i´ll be the first person to get a ticket as soon as they announce another show in manchester. thanks again to other lives for an absolutely amazing performance. last night was just one of the best ones so far and i can´t wait for another night like this. other lives might just be one of the best bands out there at this point – no doubt about that.

 Other Lives

 Jenny Hsu

 josh onstott

 colby owens

 jesse tabish

 jonathon mooney