Money, gig review

Heaven, London

Playing songs from their debut album, Shadow of Heaven, this Mancunian four-piece have the ability to conjure up that rare combination of sounding vulnerable and epic in equal measure.

Rolling reverbs and intricately woven guitars take listeners to places that only a handful of bands since perhaps The Smiths have visited.

Opening with “Goodnight London”, the seeds are sown for a sentiment that sticks to cynical bones like tar. Irresistibly moving, this six-minute lament on piano by frontman Jamie Lee makes even the toughest of souls tremble at his choral reverbs.

Powerful single “Bluebell Fields” has Lee’s regretful lyrics hanging in the air against guitarist, Charlie Cocksedge’s swirling accompaniments recalling early sketches of My Bloody Valentine while gentler “Hold Me Forever” is a unifying, cavernous anthem that ponders the fleeting nature of relationships against Billy Byron’s palpitating beats.

There are shades of early U2 here, but it’s the troubled gaze of Salford at their heart that allows Money to erupt easily from their melancholy verses into the most epic of choruses. Catching this band live is a must.