'Live in Room 2' by HomeBread

Much as I tend to repeat myself that one of the motivating factors in my reviewing, compiling & promoting local music has been the significant boom  in startlingly original & engaging creativity in recent years, it is possibly essential to note that the pace, rather than slowing down (my great fear), has over the last eighteen months or so actually sped up with several bands emerging & and making immediate and profound impacts: you know whom I mean as I have mentioned them all in the months we've lately gone through.

Without doubt one of the most potent & searing of these has been HomeBread and few, if any, readers of this will be unaware of the reputation as a live band they already hold.

The next traditional rite of passage is to release recordings & while adherence to tradition can't be high on their agenda, it does tend to help spread the word quickly.

HomeBread, as I've previously written, have many outstanding qualities and one of them has been not to jump the gun on studio work but to wait until all the elements were aligned: not least finding a producer in complete empathy with their philosophies.

You also need to factor in other aspects of band experience which would usually put a group into at least temporary stasis: studying, transitioning into employment, relocation of their base and above all going through an extended period of lineup fluctuations. Again, in "normal" circumstances I'd probably be talking about incompatibilities, fallings out & unforeseen circumstances but HomeBread are not run of the mill and probably wouldn't like to be called normal. What seems to have happened is that they are fortunate enough to possess friends not only with the musical skill & panache to fit into the HomeBread family on a temporary basis until long term solutions were found (or available) but also share the rare values. So much so that whatever gig by the band astounded you (and me), almost certainly hasn't featured the lineup which they regard as definitive let alone the one to take into that studio.

Fortunately for us, pending that glorious day, the songs from their 'Live in Room 2' session which took place last summer have now been released on Bandcamp, mixed and mastered by Harry Houlton of Room 2.

These are "Smoke Rings", "Cowboys" and "Michael Ceratonin".

As you'll have inferred from the above, the lineup involved was one of those transitional ones: not in fact the one you'll have caught at the Priory Visitor Centre for Underbelly in October nor the one you'll catch at their next outing. Not that it matters greatly because as I say, even temporary band members demonstrate the same commitment to the cause. (It's worth pointing out too that another strand of the HomeBread DNA is one of enigma: they don't publicise their names and in fact I totally unknowingly corresponded with one member on a different subject without realising they were in the band. It was quite funny when the connection was made).

What was significant for me was my wondering how such a dynamic & puissant group could perform adequately within the confines of a small room (the essential format of Room 2). They are after all both loud and visually powerful live with a great deal of movement as their music inhabits & possesses them.

Well, I covered this to some extent last year, but coming now to the audio, I'm inclined to suggest that not only were they not fazed by the constraints but arguably the compression of environment has concentrated their songs into even stronger formats.

"Smoke Rings" is possibly their most effective song live: they use it as culmination of the steady increase of intensity as a set closer. I can well see it as a debut single somewhere down the line. Equally "Cowboys" is a very popular live stand out. The final track however not only possesses a pun I'd not picked up on in concert (I am not sure I had heard the title until "Room 2") but has a pleasingly strange vibe and lyrics which fill in yet more aspects of HomeBread's  Weltanschauung for those of us intrigued by it.

In fact, the recordings do tend to illuminate details which my ears at least miss live: in such exciting circumstances, one tends to both focus on overall effects of songs and the standout solos and moments of glory. Plus of course there is much visual distraction. Here you get to hear each part and realise just how good the individuals are musically.

You can of course recreate the HomeBread live experience by cranking it up & jumping around: the production does an excellent job of communicating what we've all been drawn to the band through.

These  "angsty little weirdos making emo-adjacent mess" (their words) have now got an excellent calling card with which to broadcast their strange & compelling music. If I'm being honest, I wonder if this is not also a really useful template for when they do go for more formal recording? Their appeal is definitely in what they do live & it's built 100% of their ever growing audience to date. I fear over-production can only neuter their inherent strengths & the closer they can get to a live take, the truer it will be. And this is a damned authentic record.

In the meantime, I'm delighted to report that they are playing on January 22nd at one of our nation's most legendary and prestigious venues, London's Hope and Anchor