Flights
The Croft, Bristol
09/06/2011

The shoe-box dimensions of The Croft’s front bar could never satisfactorily accommodate the live output of the likes of Bristol-based post-rockers Flights. The close confines can inevitably serve only to stifle an outfit whose intricate sound deserves close attention. And so it is tonight. Yet look and listen beyond the setting-induced drawbacks, and one thing is clear: Flights are an efficient powerhouse, with a keenly-crafted set of songs that shifts freely between sweetly chiming meditation and controlled metallic devastation.

For a progressive band whose average track length smashes the five-minute barrier, they play a remarkably short set, clocking in at just over half an hour. It’s short and sweet, though, and a performance that neatly bottles Explosions in the Sky‘s open-ranged bliss and the mercurial spikiness of early Biffy Clyro. They open the floodgates with ‘Wires & Code’, the next single from their latest self-titled EP, a soaring emo romp, decorated with streamlined, three-piece harmonies and high-altitude delay. Delicately picked guitars and aerial harmonies are offset by Dean Bowden’s glowering bass, which wheels and churns heavily beneath the surface.

“This next track is about a nightmare I had about my flat being broken into”, frontman Joel Pearce tell us by way of an introduction to new track ‘Home Alone’, and his inspiration is aptly contextualised by the menacing, hypnotic ascent of Bowden’s low-end. The track builds forebodingly, then, when it reaches a brink, the pay off: a headlong crash of post-rock noises that brings guitarist Joe Newcombe to his knees. A formidable, albeit short-lived set. Next time The Fly catches Flights, we hope they’re playing a venue that allows their sound to breathe.

Jamie Skey