Quilt at Rough Trade East

The hippies are back! Together with Tame Impala and Connan Mockasin, Quilt represent the top of this new psych-rock wave that has come back into fashion in the last four years. All over the world, from Brooklyn to Perth, there is a delightful psychedelia-like movement happening. Echoes, second voices from far away, misty landscapes, dreamy 60s temper and a dusty atmosphere make Quilt records very entangling, especially in their new album Held in Splendor.

The names that really stand out in this genre are Woods, Tame Impala, Zombies and Buffalo Springfield (mutatis mutandis), but these young guys try really hard to define their own charisma and personality.

On stage the band change gear and blow more rock, which is always a good feature in a live performance. The guitars get heavier, the bass and drum faster and the psychedelia chord is deeply highlighted – so much so that we really seem to be in a 70s psych session.

Saturday Bride sounds like a B-side of a Zombies record, while Secondary Swans is a Grateful Dead song – excellent thanks to good choices in terms of production (to the producer of the record – great job).  Artic Shark, Mary Mountain and A Mirror are closer to the surf rock of the early 60s, pure psychedelia from Palo Alto.

Despite their young age, the band members are quite confident on stage and manage to change the music up during the live show. If they keep on improving in this vein, they’ll be great one day.

Lorenzo Cibrario

For further information and future events visit Quilt’s website here.

Watch the video for Tie Up for the Tides here: