Although an element of genre confusion has muddled their live sound they are a lively young band with great energy and some upbeat pop anthems
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Bristol band Coasts performed live on Friday night at the dingy (and somewhat legendary) poster painted, low-ceiling, edgy rock venue; the Boileroom’s in Guildford. It held the perfect vibe for a small and intimate feel between fans and band, whilst strongly alluding to the style of the band at the same time.
Playing a mixture of old and new, the boys opened with ‘More than Love’ before quickly moving onto their more well-known ‘Heart Starts Beating’. Both tracks provided a precedent for the rest of the gig; jumped-up pop tracks gave an edge of indie-rock to fit the vibe of a cool venue filled with young fans.
Seeing the very lively band perform partly reminded me of seeing Catfish and the Bottlemen – they have so much energy that their stage presence is inarguably fantastic to watch. Yet it felt, whilst listening to ‘Let Me Love You’, that their song lyrics and style don’t appear to come hand-in-hand when live. Already onto their second album, a lot of their songs show an element of pop-rock which, when performed live, felt as though the band was reaching toward the style of an edgy indie-rock group.
I think this idea of genre is what let the boys down slightly, they seem to be trying too hard to be indie-rock and it’s not happening because their songs aren’t indie-rock. Coasts write good songs, I can’t fault that, but they are pop-rock songs.Their energy and stage presence definitely does not let them down, especially with the lead vocalist, Chris, jumping forwards into the very eager and excitable crown after the first few songs. However, they lack an element of fluidity that you get when seeing a band who really know who they are.
As they neared the end of their performance with ‘Come On Over’ and ‘Born To Die’, Chris (vocals) and James (bassist) announced to their adoring fans going wild at the front how humbled by how supportive they were. The small venue was filled and following the success of their album release and tour, it is clear Coasts are really doing something right here. It is just a shame that they fall short in genre confusion, an aspect of this can be heard when listening to the album, but sadly it really shows up when listening live.
Coasts are obviously a band who enjoy doing what they love, but it may be time to sit down and think about where they want to go with their music. Once that’s done, their sound will follow.
See Coasts upcoming tour dates here, and catch their latest music video below.
