It’s always special wandering into the relaxed glow of Hyde Park Book Club in the centre of Leeds’ student city. So when I heard Lozenge were playing to celebrate the release of their precocious second‑born EP Everything, it was a no‑brainer.

Our opener down in the cellar was Supermaus, a Leeds band who’ve been slowly fermenting a reputation over the past couple of years, helped along by the release of their debut EP Out of Body earlier this year.

Although the Supermaus members have been within the Leeds creative scene for a decade, the band itself is a relatively recent formation — still very much in its growth and development phase.
Supermaus draw on grunge, goth and shoegaze roots, but weave in an engaging thread of pressure and tension, with enough musical chops to lift their sound above a busy crowd.

The band cite a strong pedigree of influences including PJ Harvey, Nirvana, Alice in Chains and The Cure.
Vocalist Helen Edgeworth has a clear, solid vocal presence, and the lyric themes across their set blend well: reflective thoughts and regrets about longing, emotional dislocation and relationships.

Onto Lozenge. Live, Lozenge were a masterclass in loud, busy, clever shoegaze complete with driving, persistent rhythms; dark rolling vistas; and plenty of space for the mind to wander. They’re urgent and forceful, but also measured and controlled.

This was Lozenge’s first headline show of the year, held to mark the release of their strong second EP Everything.
From the opening burst of Silver, Lozenge were on point all evening. They’re still a relatively new band, but I did spot a couple of former Dead Naked Hippies among their number.

I’ve got a slow‑burner kind of brain, and when life is busy it sometimes takes its time to fully understand what it has witnessed.

On the night, Lozenge loosely reminded me of an early Nirvana run‑through — only with an understated guide vocal rather than Kurt’s.

But by the following afternoon, after picking through the rhythms, that chunky, meaty bass, and the quietly reassuring vocal in my head, I realised I’d done Lozenge a sweeping disservice. They are, of course, far stronger and more detailed than even that.

My shoes have been well and truly gazed to the point where I can see the outlines of my toenails. There was also a fuzzy halo of sound around the vocals, and a subtle hint of Jesus and Mary Chain pop sensibility in the mix.

That blend of driving power mixed with moody sentiment sat beautifully on this stage.

Words and images: Tiggerligger