A few weeks ago, the Miki Berenyi Trio completed a 15-date tour of the United Sates and Canada. It was to be their final live appearances in that part of the world. As Miki Berenyi had explained beforehand “the costs involved in touring Stateside have become crippling for smaller bands like us, so this will be our last ever outing in North America.”
America is one of the biggest markets for British artists and by not playing there they lose a real opportunity to advance their careers. US audiences will also miss out on important cultural exchanges. Furthermore, Miki Berenyi has loved playing in that country over the years but the mounting financial risks of touring abroad for independent artists has just become insurmountable, not least with the marked rise in visa fees.
Despite this deep sadness and disappointment for the band, though, the trio of Miki Berenyi (vocals/guitar), Kevin ‘Moose’ McKillop (guitar), and Oliver Cherer (bass guitar) were determined to end the year on a high with a series of live shows back on home soil in the UK.
It is a year that has already seen the release of their debut album Tripla back in April. And over the course of the next 80 minutes we will get that quite excellent album in full. But it is to their recent single, ‘Doldrum Days’ – recorded and released after Tripla – that the three musicians go first.
Propelled forward by sequenced drums and immersed in a rich synthetic soundscape ‘Doldrum Days’ expands the musical direction in which the Miki Berenyi Trio have been heading. It remains gracious towards her past whilst shifting towards a sound far closer to dream pop than ever it is shoegaze. Nobody is staring at the floor here.
Four songs in and Miki Berenyi advises us that they will play “an old one…a really fuckin’ old one” and with that the three musicians unleash ‘Undertow,’ which dates from 1994 and can be found on Split, the second album from Lush, reminding us in the process of what a hugely influential band they were in the indie-rock movement of that decade.
Ten songs later and the Miki Berenyi Trio reach Lush’s 1996 hit single ‘Ladykillers.’ “If you were waiting for that one, you can go now,” Berenyi playfully tells us. Nobody is inclined to leave. We have remained seduced, transduced by Miki Berenyi’s compelling soprano, her emotional resilience, continuing creative creative evolution, and the power and invention of this musical unit, characteristics that are no more evident than on a triple salvo of ‘Manu’, ‘8th Deadly Sin’, and ‘Vertigo’, all from the new album.
The live music industry in this country is still in a parlous position, most notably at a grassroots level, but the positive impact of evenings like this, time spent in packed, hot, sweaty rooms immersed in the communal experience of enjoying such great music cannot be overstated.
Photos: Simon Godley
More photos of Miki Berenyi Trio at the Lending Room in Leeds
