LUMP, the collaborative project between Tunng’s Mike Lindsay and Laura Marling, return to the road. Coming off the release of their latest release, ‘Animal’ they took to the stage at Manchester’s Gorilla, showcasing their unique brand of avant-guard dream-pop, they played a spellbinding set to a crowd totally transfixed.

 

Opening the set was lead track off their latest release, ‘Bloom At Night’. It’s electro, ambient tones cut through the audiences initial post-COVID trepidation, and pulled them into the almost mystical world of LUMP. Marling’s vocal delivery was on top form, with her effortless delivery pushing the track to that next level. This was seamlessly transitioned into, ‘Gamma Ray’, with its somewhat lighter and pop tinged sound. The track brought the crowd to life, with the entirety of Gorilla swaying their hips to the tracks blissful electro tones. In a post-COVID19 landscape, this was something truly refreshing and slightly emotional to see.

 

This is not to say that the show was solely these groove-based, euphoric highs. At points, the show it ventured into truly emotional places that left the boundaries set by your typical gig, and more into a performance art sphere. This was highlighted within the transcendent rendition of, ‘Red Snakes’. Carried by a minimal backing track, the stage was Marling’s to own. Her voice soaring through the track with never a note missed. The performance was transfixing and emotive, with there not being a dry eye left in the house at its climax.

 

Following on from this the set swung back into its light, pop highs. ‘Curse of the Contemporary’ brought a relaxed, lounge jazz vibe to the evening, with the band well and truly engrossed in their performance. Over the course of the evening they built up a mystique around their performance. With them saying very little between songs and Lindsay throwing himself around the stage like a man possessed.

 

‘Phantom Limb’ closed out the evening in blissfully odd style. With its clashing of traditional breezy vocals and experimental electronic blips, it elevated this previously established performance art motif. Gone were the dances and sways, replaced by a crowd gripped by the tracks tour de force like. With the incomprehensible, ‘LUMP Is a Product’ coming over the PA, the band exited the stage.

 

LUMP’s performance at Gorilla was truly captivating. Swinging from pop to ambient-jazz, from indie to experimental electronica, and everything in between. Gripping from opening note to closing sentence, LUMP proved themselves to be a force to be reckoned with in the performance art sphere.