By Benjamin Ladner, First Year, Geography
There are several groups kicking about with that same idea – a string section, six-plus-piece lineup, often an even gender split – like Man/Woman/Chainsaw, or the obvious elephant in the room, Black Country, New Road. But in my eyes, TO(FN) do it better than the rest.
In an entire nation of pretentious, nepotistic, undergrad art rock bands – they stand out. They meld Johnny Greenwood’s distorted tones with the baroque vamps of The Incredible String Band. Vocalist Joe Scarisbrick wails and growls lyrics of a slightly more socially conscious nature than that of his contemporaries. Take ‘Escape from New York’s line, ‘I’ve been through all of Zadie Smith’s books’ (made even more powerful on the second time around) as an example.
They have a pretty good track record so far – rising to indie rock royalty in London’s Windmill/George Tavern scene, before supporting Black Midi at their final gig ever. Then releasing the EP Plan 75, and its aptly titled follow-up, Plan 76. These days they are announcing dates around the country and abroad, (including another Bristol date in April, at Outer Town festival).
This translates perfectly live – due to the all-encompassing lineup they exhibit, the live versions of the tracks are just as impactful as the studios. As in, they don’t have to rely on samplers live, everything written down on the page is played live too.
At their set at Exchange, they performed nearly all of the tracks from the two aforementioned EPs, including standouts: ‘Escape from New York’, ‘Wake Robin’ and ‘Hattrick’, as well as a few newly written, unreleased songs. Scarisbrick is an interesting character live – he seems to shy away from the spotlight, only coming out of his shell when he lets the music fully consume him. During moments of quiet, he hides behind his Korg electric Piano, (or maybe he’s just crouched down there to hit his vape).
The rest of the band don’t shy away from showboating though – the two guitarists weren’t afraid to show off a bit and jam with their distortion pedals switched on, and the more classical type instrumentalists are amplifying the songs in the set exponentially through their thickening and expanding of the sound.
Openers, Ebbb, however were slightly underwhelming. They fused club energy (with synths and all) with an art-punk vibe. The frontman carried the energy and leant into the crowd during the set, with his hands on the roof. I suppose they tried to sound like a new version of New Order (on stimulants), but ended up coming across more like an Ibiza FM fever dream.
While this strange, shambolic energy is normally something I desire, I feel they were totally the wrong pick to open for such a put-together group like TO(FN). Maybe they just did it to offer a slot to a fellow London upstart band, which would be fair enough, really.
The show was totally sold out, as you’d hope for something that I’ve gassed up this much. Sometimes that’s an issue, but in this case the crowd was exceedingly pleasant and respectful of the personal space of others outside the moshpit – probably because they are there to take in the music, rather than if they were there to see a solitary popstar, as is sometimes the case.
Ambar Madhok
The band were at the merch desk afterwards as well, all seven signing records and T-shirts for attendees. When you are a band as small as TO(FN), who haven’t yet totally made it, you have to be thankful for everyone who donates their time and money to see you.
TO(FN) are a band to watch – both because I speculate their future stardom, and as in, you should go out and watch them live.
Featured image: @david_jh_photography / David Jeffery-HughesHave you seen TO(FN) live?
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