IVW: Strangers, Salvador, The Entire City @ The Jacaranda, Liverpool, 30.01.18

‘We’re The Entire City. Even though there’s only two of us’. A prosaic but accurate intro for the first performance it emerges by the guitar n’ drums Liverpool duo, treading the boards on the second night of Independent Venue Week at The Jacaranda. Running the guitar and the bass through separate amps with the addition of some exemplary six string and vocal skills plus a generous dollop of reverb on just about everything lends the pair’s tracks an expansiveness that makes them sound far vaster than the sum of their parts.

The last track, building from an early days Verve style guitar figure into a pulsating sonic leviathan that sounds like a cut from a Hacienda compilation, is expertly piloted by their sticksman who propels the tracks forward with pinpoint accuracy.

Salvador up next look like they would struggle to get served in most drinking estblishments they look so young, a four-piece drawing inspiration from the mid Noughties guitar band wave. Pulling together strands of Arctic Monkeys and The Kooks, the four-piece shoot for the poppier end of the category that used to be termed indie rock.

Capping the bill, Strangers step on to the low stage for headlining duties. A set of nimble indie pop bolstered by booming basslines, piloted by the light, bright Fender guitar sound favoured by Vampire Weekend. While the twisting basslines suffer from the occasional bursts of feedback that swamp the sound, enough still emerges to demonstrate the trio are a well-drilled live proposition.

Possessing the propulsion early, non-crap era Bloc Party had, the three-piece allow song intros to build and build before the vocalist steps up the mic. The indie pop rush of Lucy proves the highlight, landing somewhere near the early guitar driven manoeuvres of US stalwarts Wild Nothing.