Golden Lion, Bristol, 8th October 2021
MY OCTOPUS MIND – HYPOTHETICS – THE GOLDEN LION 08|10
As a preface , I’d like to say that The Golden Lion is my dearly beloved local pub, so I am slightly biased to its airwaves. To say The Lion (as it’s affectionately known) has hosted an eclectic jamboree of bands over the years would be an understatement; everything from IDLES to Laid Blak have graced it’s boards, so it’s a fantastic place to catch amazing home grown talent…such as…
My Octopus Mind, the opener of the evening was, and much like the namesake I genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that the drummer was indeed an 8 tentacled monster due to the skillful lightning fast beat he put out. My Octopus Mind, and I hate to slap generes on things but here we go, were a mix of new progressive rock ala King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard with some serious tight mathy elements along the same veins of bands like Battles. Not only are the band tight they also have the added element of a serious low end kick put out by the impebabbled played double bass run through a bank of distortion. Vocally the band evoke such elements as the aforementioned Battles with some Thom Yorke sustain. Definitely a band for those who like to fill their ears with an audio landscape.
The headliner, Hypothetics are a younger band and one that whilst I’d seen them before COVID I didn’t actually know a lot about them, so I ambushed Dan Pacini on guitar to do some fact finding. Dan explained that they are all around 19 and have decided to take a year out from the grind to focus on music; something that I think is very commendable (and a bit jealous of!). When asked about the influences of the band, he mentioned genres such as RnB and Reggae but admitted it was a little bit of everything. The crowd was receptive and definitely all of the side of Hypothetics, with chants going back and forward to the fans, even on the slower quiet numbers there was still a distinct energy in the air. To me, Hypothetics sounded much like Rage Against The Machine was fronted by Devlin (of BBK Fame) with a light misting of De La Soul, seriously tight and funky instrumentals delivered in a harsh angry yet focused way by George the lead singer. Rhythms headed up by Joe and Jim are woven tightly together. They would often share a smile between them since they knew, and we all knew, that they are serious business. Lyrically and sonically Hypothetics want to spread their gospel, and I was very happy to be converted.
Reviewer: www.instagram.com/cam.mulberry
