I'm not sure if anyone from Warp records was in attendance on Thursday night but if so, surely they were on lights. And goddamn were they excited. Once my retinas had adjusted to the scalding blitzkreig of the bands light show, one could peer through the beams to see the house that Pivot were building.
It's a complex one. At one end is the flurry of limbs rotating wildly behind drummer Laurence Pike's kit, as he sets about building the framework of a beat. At the other is electronic guy Dave Miller doing that invisible "something" behind a laptop and keyboard that electronic players do these days, but aided by a tambourine and some rarely contained enthusiasm. And in between is multi-instrumentalist and sometimes vocalist Richard Pike, reigning in the band with bass grooves or providing nifty guitar licks that serve as a bright focus amongst the maelstrom.
Crucially they don't follow the "build and explode" template that tires so many instrumental bands. Instead they weave instruments around each other, marrying their intricacies to start with a groove rather than building to one. It's this sort of arrangement that gives them reference to
Battles. But where Battles can spiral away into technicalities, Pivot's touchstone is a creeping melancholy - almost nostalgia - that lies underneath the surface. It's this bed that gives the band soul, and with a full club soaking up the din at the East Brunswick Club, it was a treat to see it come to life.