The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicLive music

Contagious wave of energy at Hoxton Square with Niki & The Dove

Contagious wave of energy at Hoxton Square with Niki & The Dove | Live review
17 February 2012
Abigail Moss
Avatar
Abigail Moss
17 February 2012

Electro-pop Swedish duo Niki & the Dove, of singer-songwriter Malin Dahlström and multi-instrumentalist Gustaf Karlöf, were at Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen last night, 16th February, gathering more than 400 people.

After debut EP Under The Bridges/DJ Ease My Mind was released on iconic indie label Moshi Moshi, Niki & the Dove have been touring on the NME’s Emerge Radar Tour alongside Wolf Gang and SCUM. Niki & the Dove reached number five in the BBC Sound of 2012 Countdown (Michael Kiwanuka claiming first place).

For this sell-out gig, Niki & the Dove told fans on Facebook: “If you’re going to be in the audience, make sure you remember your glow-sticks.” I did not have a glow-stick. Big mistake. I felt left out.

The capacity back room of Hoxton Square Bar was not enough to contain the smoky, neon, enormity of Niki & the Dove’s sound. This is pop music that has learnt all the rules just to know how to break them. Niki & the Dove make us think of everything that they are not. Think Florence and the Machine, The XX, Cults, Kate Bush and Crystal Castles. Now roll them all into one. Now throw them off a bridge. Hoxton Square Bar last night felt more like Glastonbury’s Dance East. Tracks like Mother Protect and DJ Ease My Mind are already this summer’s indie classics if last night’s audience are anything to go by. Live, these tracks take on a momentum which is almost untranslatable to record. The Drummer, a contender with Mother Protect as the highlight of the set, became epic and tribal. This ancestral yet cuttingly modern feel was propelled forward by onstage dancers who created a hopelessly contagious energy. Malin Dahlström, set slightly back onstage, nevertheless commanded the space, as much with her powerfully confident presence as with the undeniable force of her voice.

Live, the band’s ethereal sound turns into deliciously tense builds of noise and a kind of booming mystical anger. With Niki & the Dove, it’s all about the feeling. Explanation, clarity and meaning are all pushed back. Everything comes down to mood and in Hoxton last night the mood was one of sheer thrill. The energy and vitality onstage and the abundance and verve in the crowd seemed to make the walls bow out. A band that is already outgrowing its venues can only burst out of them. Niki & the Dove should be huge and soon.

★★★★★

Abigail Moss

On 31st May Niki & the Dove will play Brixton’s O2 Academy with Miike Snow. Pre-order their debut album DJ, Ease My Mind on iTunes now, out 14th May.

Watch the video for Mother Protect here:

Related Itemslive musicreview

More in Live music

Vienna New Year’s Day Concert at the Musikverein

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Rufus, Martha and Lucy Wainwright Present: A Not So Silent Night “Virtually Together”

★★★★★
Francis Nash
Read More

Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra: Ibiza Classics – O Come All Ye Ravers at the O2 Arena Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Courtney Barnett live from the Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Gorillaz: Song Machine Live

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More

Andrea Bocelli at Teatro Regio di Parma Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Foy Vance: Hope in the Highlands

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Liam Gallagher: Down by the River Thames

★★★★★
Jonathan Marshall
Read More

Blossoms at Brixton Academy

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards
    Cinema
  • An interview with Ifrah Ismael: Tales from the Front Line and other stories
    Theatre
  • Persian Lessons
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Jeremiah Fraites – Piano Piano
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Lonely the Brave – The Hope List
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • 23 Walks
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher
    Theatre
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

New music at Bull and Gate as E.J. and The Tenfivesixty wow the crowd | Live review
The Fray – Scars & Stories | Album review