Live Review: Nova Twins - Sebright Arms, London 18/09/2019
Racking up support slots with Wolf Alice, Black Honey, Prophets of Rage and Skunk Anansie; playing at the HeavyMusic Awards, and making their debut at Download Festival – it’s been quite a year for Nova Twins. To round it all out, they’re currently on a mini headline tour and we caught all the action at the Sebright Arms, in London.
From the moment they hit the stage, Amy Love and Georgia South had the intentions of decimating the crowd and blowing out the speakers with their intense noise attack. Given the insane amount of shows that they’ve played in the last twelve months, it comes as a surprise that this is the first London headline show amongst them all. Opening with their stomping grime/metal crossover ‘Bassline Bitch’ and moving swiftly into ‘Hitlist’ the pair bounced around the stage before Love invited the crowd to open up the pit. The crowd wasted no time in heeding to their orders and it was carnage from there on out.
Given that the duo are young women of colour, there’s a huge conversation about bringing women to the front and making gigs and pits safe spaces for all people. Wanting to have her say, Love called out to the women in the back: “Where are you? Why aren’t you at the front? I’m coming for you” – and she almost did just that. Diving into the crowd intermittently, she went further each time. Rattling through hits like ‘Moodswings’, ‘Drums’, and ‘Wave’ the duo put on a show that was a force which kept on building and showed no signs of faltering.
A lot of the spark in Nova Twins comes from South’s bass playing. She is one of the most fluid and innovative musicians of our generation, with a monstrous pedal board – completely taped up to hide her secrets. There is an alchemy to the wealth of sounds that she is able to produce from her instrument – rippling overdrive, gritty fuzz, and piercingly searing notes are just some of the dizzying array of sounds in Nova Twins’ assault on the senses. These elements are more prevalent in the duo’s newer songs like ‘Devil’s Face’, ‘Vortex’ and the unreleased ‘Undertaker’. Given that the last time we caught Nova Twins was at Download Festival, it was utter chaos to go back to the experience of a sweaty sold-out 100+ capacity venue.
Words by Tyler Damara Kelly and Photography by Ant Adams
