The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die

support Kamikaze Girls
author PP date 16/03/18 venue Loppen, Copenhagen, DEN

It's been almost exactly two years since The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to die last visited Loppen. Back then, they brought along the hyped indie/experimental band mewithoutYou, and this time they have once again opted for something a little different: a female-fronted duo by the name of Kamikaze Girls. The tickets are cheap, beer is cheap, so even though it's horrifically cold and windy outside for this time of the year, quite a few people have gathered up at Loppen to re-witness the hyped post-rock band once again.

Kamikaze Girls

The first thing that comes to mind when listening to UK-based Kamikaze Girls is Title Fight. Although very different in the vocal department - Kamikaze Girls sound more like your typical post-punk bands like Savages or Iceage here - the sheer amount of reverb effect in the guitars is basically "Hyperview" part two. Mixing the two, you have punk undertones embedded within an experimental, indie-flavored soundscape that requires quite a few listens to get accustomed to. Why? Because the vocals, quite frankly, are not very good. The off-tune howls take a toll on the listener, but fortunately, it's a matter of few songs before the songs open up. And although vocalist/guitarist Lucinda Livingstone is fairly static while performing on the stage, she has a humble charm to her and uncanny songwriting that slowly gets people's attention. And when she switches things up radically into a louder and punk-fueled rage, the crowd is sold. It was a gradual process, but Kamikaze Girls convinced this writer there's something to their Title Fight worship.

The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die

A few moments later and people are gathered close up on stage for TWIABP's headline performance. If this is your first time seeing the group live, you'll immediately notice how many members they have on stage at once, which at a place like Loppen looks like the crowd has taken over the stage all of a sudden. Either way, the band has undergone quite a dramatic transformation for their new album "Always Foreign", going into a far more experimental and indie-flavored direction than the past two records, which is probably why they are careful in including only a few songs from that album.

Instead, the band takes us through their loud and voluminous material from their first two records, where there are moments of euphoria in the dynamic between the crowd and the band. If anything, there's a special atmosphere that has an eerie vibe suggesting that one day we will look back at some of these songs as genre classics, which explains why the band on stage plays their hearts out in a manner that showcases their sheer joy of playing music emanating from everyone on stage.

Still, if there's one thing to criticize TWIABP, it is that going to their concerts does require a shit ton of prep work. If you're less familiar with the old tracks like the undersigned, many of the songs will feel too complex and convoluted for their own good. This is also probably why the crowd response isn't quite equivalent to bands that are really happening right now.

As the band plows through their old material, they reach "Marine Tigers" and a couple of others from the new album around 45 minutes in. It's a nice treat for newer fans but also goes a long way in contrasting how different these two sounds are from each other. That will be problematic in the future. Finally, the band finishes off with their two classics "Gig Life" and "Getting Sodas", the latter featuring the now-classic finale of "The world is a beautiful place but we have to make it that way" lyrics carrying a part of their name within them. We take off from the venue with mixed feelings: there are moments where TWIABP look like one of the best bands in the world but overall the set is too inconsistent for the high ratings.

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