Odd-pop four piece Gengahr are set to perform at Manchester’s Deaf Institute as part of their biggest headline tour to date.
The band, who have supported the likes of The Maccabees and The Strokes have had a busy 2015 packing in an Australian tour, numerous festival appearances including Glastonbury and the small matter of the release of their debut album A Dream outside.
Gengahr (Felix Bushe on vocals and guitar; Hugh Schulte on bass; John Victor on guitar; and Danny Ward on drums/vocals) marked out their intentions for 2015 with an opening slot on Alt-J’s European tour and the release of the gloriously spellbinding ‘She’s A Witch’, which received acclaim from the likes of The Sunday Times, Independent, DIY and NME whilst being added to playlists on 6Music (C-list), Radio 1 (INMWT), Amazing Radio (A-list) and XFM (evening list).
Follow-up single ‘Heroine’ set the feverish expectation that awaited their début release album in June, which was recorded and co-produced with James Bragg at Middle Farm Studios and released on Transgressive Records.
Announcing themselves last year with debut single ‘Powder’, the band earned support from Huw Stephens, NME, The Guardian and Blogotheque, whilst being playlisted at BBC 6Music and XFM, as well as hitting the blog-aggregating Hype Machine charts. The band also took on festival stages across the globe, with Glastonbury, Latitude and MIDI among those subject to their smoky and catchy performances and raising their profile with each show. Subsequent tours with fellow underground heroes Wolf Alice and Superfood slotted perfectly alongside the larger stages they shared with Jungle, Dry the River and Maccabees – the latter who asked the band to join them on their UK tour. Whereas 2014 may have been a breakthrough year for the four-piece, this year the band only excelled expectations as they established themselves as one of the most exciting groups of the year.
While they bashfully describe their successes to dates as “happy accidents”, there’s clearly something greater at work behind Gengahr’s rise. A timelessness that has captured the hearts of all they’ve come into contact with, last year’s signing to independent super-label Transgressive and the release of their debut album A Dream Outside are just the start. Comparisons to Radiohead are anything but reductive; there is sure to be a similarly twisting and enormous path ahead of this hypnotic North London quartet.
Gengahr perform at Manchester’s Deaf Institute on 15 October.
You may also be interested in:
In Review: Jaws at Manchester Academy
In Review: The Orwells at Gorilla
In Review: Foo Fighters at Emirates Old Trafford
Gengahr – image credit Hollie Fernando
