Recently championed by Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1 with single ‘Close to Nowhere’ receiving airtime, three piece Cortes serve as an excellent example of the good that can come from paying one’s dues on London’s sweaty circuit of intimate underground gigs.

As a result, their sound is crisp and polished whilst retaining brooding undertones which can only translate as well on stage as on record. An anthem for a disillusioned youth, frontman Andy (whose surname incidentally is the band’s name) wastes no time in building the momentum ‘Close To Nowhere’ from the outset, launching into a relentless but steady stream of snarling vocals.

Peppered with guitar, it appears to accelerate until promptly dissolving into a mass of thrashing guitars and frantic drums before regaining the control again just as swiftly. Andy Cortes restlessly laments “Is there any point in where I’m going? Am I wasting time?”, voicing a common sentiment for this generation. In response to the latter however, Cortes are certainly not wasting any time.

Catch Cortes live:

26 February – Our Black Heart, Camden
28 February – The Hawley Arms, Camden

 

Tilda Bywater
@tildabywater