Taking their moniker from a multi-storey car park in their native town of Chichester, it is conceivable to imagine 900 Spaces having also taken influence from such a robust concrete structure in their music.
The past two years have seen them carve out a reputation on Brighton’s music scene for being a high-energy indie-disco pop band.
Nothing special, you might think – there are plenty of those around. Well, there used to be; emerging bands are favouring a cool sound over any semblance of an actual song – y’know, verses, choruses, that sort of thing.
Thankfully, songs are a fairly pivotal part of 900 Spaces’ sound, underpinned with technocratic bass, solid metronomic drumming and a proto-Jonny Greenwood guitarist.
The soaring lead vocal of Emma Larcombe crosses the qualities of Kate Bush with the urgency of rock’s female singers from across the pond. Rather than chin-stroke over musical comparisons, it’s better to pull a clutch of bands out of a big rock ’n’ pop toy box: Foals, The Sunshine Underground, Two Door Cinema Club, The Maccabees and New Young Pony Club give you an idea.
Promoting their EP We Build Wings, it was the four-to-the-floor sound that dominated and they did it really well with some soul to boot. The song Feather Witch stood out as a live staple, while Eleven Pairs Of Wings sounded like a single. Elsewhere, Lady Go oozed the anthemic quality shirked by other bands.
There is mileage in this sound and the acid test for any band is knowing when it does something well and sticking with it.
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