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Live Review from Underground 92:
Setlist:
1. Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover)
2. Not Pain Enough
3. Uncertainty
4. Nobody Hurt, Nobody Die
5. Ep Impression
I feel compelled to admit that, generally, any band that describes themselves as “emo” usually attracts my ire (for falling to this hideous misnomer). However, Staway was a far cry from the typical whingeing, faux-melancholic bands that usually crowd into this pigeonhole. With sounds that were definitely more in the style of post-grunge modern rock, they were significantly younger than all the other bands. And although this translated into their overall sound being still mildly derivative, they have the chops to overcome this. Beginning with their modern twist of New Order’s B.L.T., they sounded like the early Lostprophets, with melodic yet short solo lines, and an anchoring bass.
The singer’s presence was quite impressive, and her melodic voice worked very well to round out their sound, especially where the higher register of frequencies was concerned. The “emo-ness”, if any, was in the mood of the lyrics, whose subject matter was mostly concerned with emotional dealings and the machinations of the mind, as evidenced in their songs’ pointed names. Singer Zoe Wong described their set closer (which was in Cantonese) as being about “getting through from sad times to happier ones”, and that this was typical of their subject matter. The heavier, slower tunes were a good chaser to Live Fast Die’s set, and was an effective closer to the night, leaving everyone there with only one more mission – to herd to the bar.
Shashwati
