Aural Aggravation

Christopher Nosnibor

Context counts for a lot. My introduction to A.A. Williams was as support to The Sisters of Mercy at Leeds Academy in March 2020 – my penultimate live music outing before COVID lockdown, when things were already starting to feel a bit strange and scary. Perhaps it was the fact it’s not a great venue, prone to rather muddy sound, perhaps it was in part that creeping tension, or perhaps it was because I was so hyped for The Sisters, that I didn’t really get into A.A. Williams’ set, and thought it was merely ok. Perhaps it was a combination of all of these reasons. Subsequent listening has led me to conclude that I failed to fully appreciate the quality of the performance and the detail within the compositions. As such, I owed it to both myself and the artist to re-evaluate with fresh ears, and the inclusion of Spotlights on the bill provided no small additional incentive for this to be the occasion to do so.

Entering the venue – the now-legendary main room of The Brudenell – we get a playlist with Nine Inch Nails and Mudhoney and Nirvana and a bunch of gothy stuff by way of a greeting, and while it’s far from rammed five minutes after opening, the front row is fully occupied, predominantly by tall older men. Of course it is.

It’s one hell of a setup on stage, with the drum kit situated off to one side rather than centre back: this space is occupied by a Marshall four by twelve. There’s a lot of amplification up there, and a lot of pedals, but shrinking the stage further is enough lighting to illuminate a stage at least five times the size. The last time I saw this much lighting packed onto a small venue stage was when The Young Gods played at Fibbers in York circa 2005.

Spotlights may not be particularly well known here, but there are a couple going crackers down the front. And instead of plugging their most recent album, tonight’s set consists of debut Tidals in its entirety and in sequence as they celebrate ten years since its release. Although whatever they’d chosen to plug wouldn’t have made much difference at the merch table, as they reported that theirs hasn’t managed to make it across from mainland Europe. Talk about triumph in the face of adversity: in addition to the merch issue, they’ve had transport troubles due to extreme weather on this tour, and tonight, the drummer managed to break his snare – splitting the skin – during penultimate song of the set, ‘Joseph’. Thankfully, A.A. Williams’ drummer in on hand to lend his, and they complete the set with barely a break, closing with a blistering rendition of ‘Sunset Burial’ from Alchemy for the Dead.

Spotlights

It’s a seismic set, dominated by ripping riffs and tearing power chords. Mario Quintero’s guitar sound is huge, and he manages to play some sinewy detailed lead work while simultaneously hammering out low-end riffery, which, when combined with Sarah’s chunky bass and some powerful percussion, they blast out a high-impact sound.

A.A. Williams’ performance tonight is faultless, every song played with precision, but also feeling. The sound is nothing short of exceptional – even by Brudenell standards – with both clarity and volume coming together to accentuate the deal and the dynamics. The interplay between the two guitars and steady, deliberate drumming is a joy to observe, and when the riffs kick in, boy, do they kick in.

A.A. Williams

There are some pauses while swapping and tuning guitars (Williams has a very fine array of pointy guitars), with no chat from band or audience. In the main, she lets the songs speak. Moreover, to contrast this with the abysmal chatfest that was Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at the Academy at the tail end of last year, the fact you could hear a pin drop is credit to the crowd for their respect, and the artist for holding the whole room captivated. And when she does engage with the audience, she reflects on her affinity with Leeds, and in particular The Brudenell, where she played her first UK show as part of Strange Forms festival. She’s appreciative of the audience, and they’re immensely appreciative of her and her band.

A.A. Williams

The lighting proves to be worth the effort too, and does make a difference to the feel of the night, and paired with stellar sound, the place feels three times the size.

As The Moon Rests and Forever Blue are represented about evenly here, with a handful of selections from elsewhere in her catalogue, notably ‘Control’ from her debut EP and standalone single ‘Splinter’. The closing pairing of ‘Melt’ and ‘Evaporate’ elevates things to yet another level. We witnessed something special tonight.