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RINGO DEATHSTARR + Blushing

  • Date: September 1, 2024
  • Time:19:00
  • Location: Cambridge
  • Venue: Cambridge - Portland Arms
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RINGO DEATHSTARR + Blushing

7pm, Sunday 1st September, The Portland Arms, Cambridge

Pleased to announce a rare show with RINGO DEATHSTARR in Cambridge at The Portland Arms on Sunday 1st September

“Ringo Deathstarr” is a dynamic, introspective psychedelia, multi-layered album with Frazer and bassist Alex Gehring’s trademark, gorgeous, duel harmonies. ‘Nagoya’ opens with cinematic ambience before the groove-laden gothic allure of ‘God Help The Ones You Love’ and ‘Gazin’. An upbeat, more direct shoegaze bristling with a precision and confidence that’s rarely captured with such energy, and the 90s seeped ‘Once Upon A Freak’ as well as ‘Be Love’ elevate the bands now iconic sound pallet.

Elsewhere the reverb-soaked and dark 80s post-punk of ‘In Your Arms’ and ‘Heaven Obscured’ continue to show a band unwilling to stick to the rule book, with poppier sensibilities, while ‘Lazy Lane’ and ‘The Same Again’ showcase their more lo-fi and garage-rock leanings. And in true Deathstarr fashion album closer ‘Cotton Candy Clouds’ sees us out with a climatic cacophony of guitar work and riotous power from drummer Daniel Coborn.

Ringo Deathstarr began in Austin TX in 2005, but really came together in 2007 after Elliott recorded the first EP and recruited Alex. After a couple of tours and losing another drummer, Elliott’s high school friend Daniel joined up.

Over the band’s lengthy career they’ve seen support from the likes of The Guardian, The Line Of Best Fit, Drowned In Sound, NME, VICE, Pitchfork, NPR, KEXP, BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 1 and many more.

Special guest support comes from Austin band BLUSHING  – Considering Austin’s long love affair with boundary-pushing alt rock, it comes as little surprise that it would produce a band like Blushing. Formed in 2016 and consisting of the double husband & wife pairs of Christina & Noe Carmona and Michelle & Jacob Soto, Blushing’s unique brand of dreampop-infused indie rock hearkens back to the halcyon days of college radio. With a diverse array of influences including Elastica, Curve, Veruca Salt, Lush, The Breeders, and Smashing Pumpkins, Blushing manages a deftly executed eclecticism that recalls the best elements of alt rock’s past while retaining a vitality and immediacy that tethers them firmly to the present.

After releasing the Philip Odom engineered EPs Tether (2017) and Weak (2018), the band partnered with Ringo Deathstarr’s Elliott Frazier to produce their self-titled 2019 debut LP on Wallflower Records and their 2022 followup, Possessions, on Kanine Records. Across their discography, the group’s ever-expanding scope and increasing refinement is easily chartable, culminating in the swirling but propulsive shoegaze of Possessions. Boasting collaborations with Miki Berenyi of Lush and Mark Gardener of Ride, Possessions channels the dreamlike qualities of 4AD’s most ethereal bands paired with the guitar-forward approach of early 90s American indie rock. The result is an astoundingly effective synthesis of forms that is as dynamic as it is comfortingly familiar.

Between their recent Japan tour with Softcult, extensive stateside touring, multiple appearances on live-session staples like LEVITATION, SXSW showcases, and sharing stages with Snail Mail, Blonde Redhead, Beabadoobee and countless others, Blushing’s mastery of their craft is hardly mysterious. Buying a Fender Jaguar and an analogue reverb pedal is one thing; Knowing what to do with them is another matter entirely. Blushing is a band who understands that fact acutely, and they continue to demonstrate it with an adroit, genre-bending versatility that only seems to sharpen with each new effort.

Tickets priced £20 are on sale via Seetickets from 2pm on Thursday 21st March and from the venues website.