Node (live at the Royal College Of Music)

London
27 February 2015

Its been a long time since Node has performed live in London. So not only is the show sold out tonight, but it’s also at one of the most astounding venues that the capital can offer. Sitting opposite the back end of the Royal Albert Hall, I’m assuming that the Royal College of Music doesn’t normally see that many rock concerts happen here, but then again Node really can’t be pigeonholed as being a rock band. Node are made up of Dave Bessell, Ed Buller, Flood and Mel Wesson and have recently released their second album, a mere nineteen years after the début, a feat that makes artists like Kate Bush look as if they are in a hurry, so no wonder there’s a buzz about this gig.

For starters the stage is packed with so much analogue synth gear that there are groups of people (including myself) standing at the front of the stage before the show starts drooling over the monumental stuff there. A huge Moog Modular stands like the tower of Babel, almost teetering on the edge of falling forward, alongside massive cabinet sequencers with their LEDs flickering on and off as they travel around their wardrobe-sized exteriors. Then there are the synthesizers, so many that this entire gig review could be taken up with just listing them.

A massive roar goes up as the four members step onstage and the first notes begin to rumble from the speakers. Behind the quartet is a massive round screen that has projected upon it various futuristic images that merge into live footage of the band. This round screen reminds me of the type used by Tangerine Dream on their 1982 Logos/White Eagle tour (somebody else mentioned it was similar to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side…. tour, but I felt the images used here were more abstract than those used by Floyd ).

And so to the music; we are treated to four tracks (with an intermission between tracks two and three) over the entire performance, each lasting on average 30 minutes. Yes, part of what Node does could be considered Berlin School and in some ways you could draw parallels between this performance and that recorded for Tangerine Dream’s Encore album of 1977, but Node are much more than this. Drifting landscapes of sound drag us into outer space territory at times, but when those sequencers kick in you are also tapping your foot along to some mighty rhythms.

Sounds crash over each other like a waterfall and tectonic plate-shifting bass heads you out into the outer stratosphere as it rumbles through your chest. When the guitar comes in, it is subtle, adding different shades to the barrage of synths. And there’s melody in there, tons of it within the four shifting tracks. It seems that these pieces may be mainly improvised with certain cues getting each band member to shift through to the next stage of the music. Overall, the sound is sublime, creating different vistas within the mind’s eye as the tracks progress.

At the end of the show the band get a standing ovation and a call for an encore (including from myself), but time restrictions means that the four massive tracks is all we get and the audience file out feeling elated. I hope Node manage to get together to do some more shows soon, but I, for one, am damn glad I was there to witness this stunning performance of what is one of the finest bands in British electronic music.

-Gary Parsons-