The stage seemed a little small as HMLTD took up their positions on a Sunday evening in February for their first sold out show of the year. Clad in a fantastic display of lipstick, leather coats and mesh shirts, as the band perhaps best known for their frenetic live shows arranged themselves in the tiny basement of the Sunflower Lounge in central Birmingham, the prospect that they might not have the physical space to perform such a theatrical set seemed all too plausible. Such doubts, however, proved unfounded. Armed with a lighting setup that outshone expectations of the venue, and a setlist informed by their newly released and greatly anticipated debut album, West of Eden, HMLTD let loose an anarchic performance of glam, post punk and EDM, continuing to stake their claim as one of the UK’s most compelling upcoming live acts.

The sheer energy of LOADED launched the crowd swiftly into chaos and the rest of the set was resplendent with jumping, moshing and crowd surfers

The set opened with ‘The West is Dead’, the lodestar track from the band’s new album, a part-facetious-part-prophetic lament for Western society featuring lyrics as whimsical as ‘The Dalai Lama wore Dolce & Gabbana in vermillion red’, and conversely as brutally nihilistic as ‘And the insects you filter in the swimming pool each morning / Are really the likes of us’. Lead singer Henry Spychalski stole the performance with some intriguing Ian Curtis-esque dancing, segueing the band into the second album track, ‘LOADED’. The sheer energy of ‘LOADED’ launched the crowd swiftly into chaos and the rest of the set was resplendent with jumping, moshing and crowd surfers. ‘Where’s Joanna’, a staple of the band’s live act was warmly received by long-time fans and newcomers alike, and the anthemic quality of ‘Blank Slate’, with its infectiously hopeful lyrics, captivated the room later on in the set.

Even some of West of Eden’s less striking offerings were brought convincingly to life in performance. ‘Mikey’s Song’, a love ballad that suffers in the album context, surrounded by more experimental and lyrically extravagant tracks, and not offering anything of the experimental oddity that imbues the band’s best work, became more poignant when seen on the stage. In a live context, the song’s sincerity was rendered transparent, and what on first listen seemed cliché and overdone took on a heartfelt tone.

Mikey’s Song, a love ballad that suffers in the album context … became more poignant when seen on the stage

The vivacity of HMLTD’s performance was all the more impressive given the technical difficulties they faced; Spychalski’s microphone cut out repeatedly, leading him to switch to using one without autotune (and then moving into ‘Satan, Luella & I’ with no apparent difficulty). The band were also a member down, and so brought in their lighting engineer on synths for the closing track. 

The end of the show seemed to be a descent into noise as bizarre riffs and screaming vocals melded together and then faded to an abrupt end. Seemingly as soon as they had begun, HMLTD had finished their set, each member putting down instruments and microphones and exiting backstage or through the crowd. Their unceremonious exit felt fitting for a band who, for all their glamour and experimentation, refuse to exalt themselves; they dedicate themselves to their performance, and they deliver with style and humour. HMLTD’s West of Eden is out now, and the band is on tour until the 22nd of March. Given the opportunity, they are an act worth seeing, and certainly one to watch out for in the future.

Tickets for the rest of HMLTD’s current tour are available here

Why not read about some other performances at the Sunflower Lounge?
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Live Review: Maisie Peters