Energetic Electro
KASMS are certainly one of the most energetic bands at the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch Now Festival, singer Rachel Mary Callaghan leaps around the stage like she’s on a pogo stick, wielding a drumstick like a weapon. The band’s music is just as fierce at times, the lively singer howls above an almost apocalyptic cacophony of guitars, feedback and booming percussion. The music mixes electro styling with frenetic, pulsing percussion and vocals that are frequently soaked in reverb and delay and make the singer sound like a howling electrified banshee. It’s an interesting sound that takes on different nuances in different tracks, as the vocal yowling on one track almost sounds Indian in origin.
As the band have only 15 minutes to play, it’s a very good job that their songs are mostly very short, providing brief, experimental snippets of sound rather than traditional verse-chorus song dynamics. 15 minutes is long enough for the audience to sample KASMS’ style and be bewitched by Rachel Mary’s stage presence, even though the long tent and slow stage aren’t conducive to creating visual impact.