I will leave my gifts like lichen over the oak branches.
Divide And Dissolve completed their 2023 UK run with a sold-out Thursday night show in London. The key event bringing them over was Supersonic in Birmingham, a festival full of esoteric and progressive bands making sounds and the “super” end of all sonic spectra. The venue was The Lower Third, a vault bar-within-a-bar beneath dazzling Soho, boasting immaculate facilities an air-conditioning fit for a late summer show.
Fräulein
It’s really difficult to choose a fitting support act for Divide And Dissolve as they are notionally ‘metal’, but their aesthetics and approach wouldn’t mesh with the average post metal project. Better to take things in the opposite direction then, with London based two-piece Fräulein (‘froy-line’). They play alt rock songs with understated technicality and skill. They’re probably a pair of jazz prodigies that started a garage band. Amazing vocal control, effortless playing, and their subtle songwriting came over clearly. There was even a drum solo to cover a thorough tuning break. As a fledgling band, much of the material was new, but the last songs from their Pedestal EP: “Pain” and “Big Cool”, which rocked. Well worth catching as a support act in the near future – Fräulein are about to play at Night Currents, followed by a tour Europe in support of Big Joanie.
Divide and Dissolve
Despite the bone rattling swell coming from the four-to-five amps on stage, there was a kind hearted edge to Divide and Dissolve. The simplicity of their sound helps, but it was Takiaya Reed’s warm smile that sealed the positive atmosphere. In the few breaks between smootly segued songs, Reed spoke softly about the forces that her music fights for: indigenous rights, freedom, and reparations, and an end to colonialism, racism, and white supremacy. The irony of telling the people of London this, with institutions like the British Museum sleeping nearby, was not lost on Reed. I’m sure the room would agree that it’s art like Divide and Dissolve that brings these important ideas to audiences who need to hear them. It was enchanting to see how the saxophone parts were assembled through a looper pedal, the result being a perfect reproduction of the studio recordings, with some extra loops for added suspense. Standing in for Sylvie Nehill (who you will have heard on the studio), Scarlett Shred of Diploid did a great job playing forceful drums without becoming lost in the drones. A surprise treat came when Minori Sanchiz-Fung joined the duo on stage, delivering their poem for “Kingdom of Fear”. It really completed the experience as no Divide and Dissolve record feels complete without a poem drenched in meaning.
