The Crowbar
Bigsound, Fortitude Valley
Thursday September 7, 2017 :
For a band who has only been around 3 years, Melbourne cinematic-art rockers Fierce Mild have already developed a very reasonable resume. They’ve released a handful of singles and have shared the stage with bands such as Dream On Dreamer, Airling and Chaos Divine as well as headlining an East-Coast tour.
Fierce Mild has been through a number of lineup changes, with the current incarnation as a sextet including only two of the original members. I had the pleasure of reviewing their set at The Crowbar during Bigsound 2017, and having not heard of them before, I had no idea what to expect.
Hitting the stage in what could be described as psych patients in biohazard suits, the immediately break into their unique brand of beautifully discordant music which in parts contains the sounds of a flock of birds, a waterfall or a gentle thunderstorm which unexpectedly break into a screamy, frenetic clamour best suited to a post-apocalyptic style soundtrack that is almost unnerving.
They create some very dark moods which are truly enhanced by the electric cello. That layer of Cello adds such a depth of drama, it’s no surprise they’ve been described as “…a synthesis of David Lynch and The Drones.”
Unfortunately, a huge part of Fierce Mild’s performance was missing at this show. They have a complete visual component which makes their live show a true performance, a true spectacle for the crowd. If the band could work out a way to hand out Fierce Mild-themed hors d’oeuvres they would have all five senses red-lining.
The best way to describe their sound is to have the band explain I themselves; “the language of sound is incredibly limited when, say, you compare it to the language of visual art. So much so, we tend to just borrow descriptions for the tropes of sound – ‘light’, ‘dark’ etc. Our sound aims to explore the far depths of human experience. It aims to be boundless in how dynamic it is. That’s why we move from dense heavy harmony to spoken word pieces to ambient cellos set against a sound art backdrop of rain and thunder. Genre-wise, I think the most accurate thing that we’ve been described as is cinematic art rock. It sounds a bit pretentious but I think it completely nails what we’re about. We aim to give a cinematic psycho-thriller from start to finish. The best reactions we’ve ever had is when people say they want to go away and process exactly what it is that they experienced from us. That’s the sweetest thing for us to hear”.
It is no surprise that Fierce Mild were part of Bigsound, they certainly are an entertaining band to watch. Though the band has no immediate plans to tour, keep an eye out because when they do you are guaranteed to experience something you will never forget.
Reviewer and Photographer : Jeremy Edwards
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