Tuesday the 11th of July saw Esore Alle headline The Sunflower Lounge with support from Heidi Eldest, Mani JNX and The Cause.
The Cause, a 4 piece band from Leicestershire, opened with an original track. Their soft vocals, and relaxed and confident qualities gave their overdriven instruments added bite. Their cover of Blur’s ‘Song 2’ showcased their well-balanced backing vocals. Perhaps influenced by other indie-rock icons, fans of Catfish and the Bottlemen may enjoy their music. Across their performance, their rock ’n’ roll solos and subtle harmonies were anchored by chugging guitar and punchy drums. Their setlist included their new single ‘Just A Breath Away’ and teased their next release, ‘Goodbye Forever’.
Mani JNX performed next, bringing her mellow, rounded sound to life with the help of her session band. Layered guitars, keys and soft vocal harmonies brought depth to her acoustic-led writing. Alongside originals ‘Bruises’, ‘Redeye’, and unreleased ‘Deeper’, Mani JNX performed ‘Bags’ by Clario and ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ by Chappell Roan. Complimenting her own work and enjoyed by the crowd, these fed neatly into the celebrations of queer identities championed by Esore Alle.
The final support act of the night was Heidi Eldest. Her sultry, edgy pop-star performance included her upcoming releases ‘Come On Baby’ and ‘Country Cowboy’, the latter a self-aware love song playing on tropes of country as the heartbreak genre. The audience were clearly invested in the story behind her songwriting and the real life events that inspire her, calling for her to name the subject of one of her songs. Heidi’s laid back R&B style, femme fatale aesthetic and indie live session band combined with her powerful vocals and high energy made for a stand out performance.
Headliner Esore Alle’s sound could perhaps best be summed up as a hybrid of The Beatles’ melancholia and the boyband-unity of the Backstreet Boys with strong political and queer messaging. A distinctly theatrical event, the operatic vocal delivery of frontman AJ was reminiscent of ABBA and Mika, contrasted by the progressively more distorted, Midwest emo inspirations of the wider band. The powerful accent of the drum kit anchored the changing roles of the other band members, with Will, Jackson, and AJ all taking turns on vocals, joined by Calino for ‘What Good Is Heaven’ and ‘I Never Knew What I Wanted’. Seb’s rotation on guitar brought a retro statement solo to the stage, solidifying more vintage influences on their music.
Esore Alle’s Stage presence brought the eclecticism and stylistic certainty of early 2000s emo music to life with buckets of atmosphere. Their performance was a masterclass in stage presence and fandom with a command of the room unique to what I have had the pleasure of watching at The Sunny. An entranced crowd heeded the band’s calls to sit on the floor for a totally stripped and unplugged cover of Lana Del Ray’s ‘Norman fucking Rockwell’. Even with such a strong fanbase and musical identity, the band didn’t take themselves too seriously, shouting ‘Bottoms on floors, Year 4’ into the audience. From banter with the band to singing along to the call and response in their opening songs, the feeling amongst attendees was one of community. ‘My Beautiful Kind’, from the eponymous EP, was a clear fan favourite. The end of their set was met with a genuinely enthusiastic chant for one more song, perfectly summing up the audience’s desire for more from Esore Alle.