Trupa Trupa

Liverpool Sound City / Gigwise

After such revelry the day entered a third stage; watching the bands on our curatorial list sock it to the locals. Gdansk’s Trupa Trupa were up first, knocking out an ear-bleedingly loud set on a hot afternoon upstairs in the Blade Factory.

Singer Grzegorz was quick to sardonically inform a wondering crowd that the band sung “very simple” songs. But that was a red herring, as there is an integral otherness about Trupa Trupa that belies their very more-ish rock, which draws on the ghost of Barrett, Pixies and (to these ears) Faust. And they are masters at creating a vast emotional and spiritual hinterland that exudes a mystery that’s hard to grasp. A series of rumbling, menacing tracks were delivered at ear-splitting volume that in turn set up a crashing ending where the band barred their teeth and showed the unhinged side of their nature. The shellshocked survivors staggered out onto the blazing sun.

Richard James Foster, www.gigwise.com

Liverpool Sound City / Gigwise