I arrive at the Lexington; the shabby baroque style of the downstairs pub area makes it look like some sort of mash-up between an American style lounge and Bordello from the 1920’s. Along the back wall of the bar there’s a list of about 40 different whiskeys, with single measure ranging from £3.50 to prices you wouldn’t think were legal to charge for a glass of scotch. I grab a pint of lager and make my way up to the upstairs gig area, a room surrounded by burgundy vector patterned wallpaper.

First up is Moongangs, a one man electronica act who plays spacey retro synths and tense arpeggios leads over trap beats. The kind of stuff that brings to mind the soundtracks of neo –noir films like Drive and Blade Runner, in addition to the soundtrack of Mass Effect.  Its minimal, slickly arranged stuff that for good background music while you’re sipping your pint.

Next up is Crows, who gave a brilliant performance with their brand of crusty psychedelic punk that takes sinister riffs and chaotic melodies and blends them with frenetic vocals and intense lyrics. The drummer’s bass drum keeps scooting forward as he played, and demands that the lead singer move it back into place every so often.

At last the main attraction, Holograms, is set to go up. A blond short haired lad in faded denim jeans rolls out a small tower of vintage synthesizers with a black cotton cloth draped  over the front with “HΔLΔGRΔMS” scrawled in white paint .There is a heavy sense of excitement as the audience awaited the Swedish four piece.  Holograms sound is intensely cold, fast punk rock with nods to early British punk rock and early new wave. Then, it goes dark. The band is outlined by smoke and the luminous white glow of the stage lights. Dark synthesizer chords ring out. Amp reverb chimes in. The drummers counts off, then anarchy breaks loose as a white lights flash frantically.  The bassist/vocalist attacks the mic with raspy deep wails which are carried by a chaotic noise punk. The choruses are sung like angry football chants. The guitar goes in and out of these complex noisy fills and aggressive power chords. It is pure punk rock bliss. There is very little stopping between songs, as the band demonstrates brilliant timing and uses the momentum of the previous song to launch head first into the next. The keyboardist downs his Fosters before the last song and climbs a good two and a half meters up to the DJ booth and belts out the last song from there.  As the chaotic punk raged on the crowd if denim clad concert goers went from jumping to being completely entranced by the powerful performance we all were witnessing.

‘A Blaze on the Hillside’ grabs the audience with passion and intensity as the songs crashes to an ‘eye of the storm’ sort of effect with minimal instrumentals that build into all out anarchic attacks. ‘Monolith’ starts with a tribal-like drums and slow grinding guitar bass that develops into fast anthemic punk.  Holograms deliver an intense live show of forward-thinking punk rock that looks towards the past as much as it does towards the future.

Trygve Hjelle