Live review from Volkswagen x Underground Battle of the Bands Final 2017
1. Walk
2. Soul Sweet
3. Monochrome
This attractive young Canto-pop outfit burst onto the stage exuding confidence –particularly impressive when you learn they’ve only been playing together for around six months.
Like a lot of young Hong Kong bands, they incorporate a lot of influences in their music – rock, pop and even some jazz/funk. There’s also a metal element which surfaces occasionally – band founders Hiro on guitar and Sai on bass started playing together in heavier outfits but modified their sound when they discovered finding talented singers in this genre in Hong Kong was difficult.
They eventually recruited talented front woman Zita whose charisma and excellent vocals adds an attractive element to the mix. And it’s a nice sound no doubt – the different genres meshing together well and providing plenty of dancey moments for their fans bouncing around at the front.
However, while “Walk” and “Soul Sweet” roll along pleasantly enough, you are kind of left waiting for everything to kick in and the set to really explode. This doesn’t truly happen until last song “Monochrome”, which is definitely heavier and more passionate. For LPM – especially bearing in mind Hiro and Sai’s metal roots – this feels like the band’s natural musical level, and means they avoid that pop/rock/jazz by numbers feel so prevalent here.
– Dan Creffield
