By Francesca Frankis, Music Editor
Drafted in straight from the aftermath of the super recently released self-titled fourth studio album, Chastity Belt’s Bristol show at Thekla proved to be a truly dazzling testament to their very own brand of punchy, moody and sentimental indie rock.
The Washington based indie quartet opened their set with introspective track ‘It Takes Time’. Playing around with tons more reverb and slow thoughtful crescendos that gave way to crunchy layered shoegaze-esque noise. New self titled album Chastity Belt comprised a solid portion of the set, whilst fan favourites from their first three records weren't overlooked either.
It’s plain to see how intrinsically in sync the group are. They’re effortlessly able to weave in and out of eachother’s sound and complement one another with off beat rhythms and on-the-spot variations to melodies that slot in flawlessly; esepcially tracks like ‘Ann’s Jam’ that saw them flaunt their superb ability to harmonize over one another live. Front-woman Julia Shapiro and drummer Gretchen Grimm showcased their multi-instrumentalist talents when mid gig they swapped places, and Grimm gave a tender performance on the guitar of some of a couple of their older tracks like ‘Stuck’. By default, songs like ‘Different Now’ and ‘Seattle Party’ sent the crowd into some sort of frenzy and prove that they still reign supreme as two of the groups most coveted tracks (and rightly so).
The contrast between their older work and their latest album isn't a stark black and white, and it showed in the seamless live rendition of tracks from throughout their musical career mixed in with their new material. Yet you can tell they’ve certainly refined their sound. Latest record Chastity Belt seemed to shine through in their performance; it stands out as a polished culmination of the thoughtful, moody and dreamy type of rock they've been been fostering over the years, and their gig was true to this sentiment.
Featured Image: Francesca Frankis/Epigram
