Plastic Mermaids at House of Rapture in Fratton REVIEW: 'Super-funky slices of uplifting joy'

The five-piece – plus two backing singers – and a hefty amount of equipment, barely squeeze onto the venue’s tiny stage.

They’re here to launch their debut album, Suddenly Everyone Explodes, which was officially released last Friday. 

But with several EPs already under their belts, the 10-song set leans on this earlier material a little more than might be expected.

However when, one of those older songs is Saturn, you’d be a fool to begrudge its inclusion. This is where erstwhile backing singer Rhain shines. Her vocals take the song into hitherto unknown areas – hymnal-disco? Operatic-robofunk? Not to mention the ’80s arcade noises at the climactic meltdown.

It’s interesting to look at the development of the band’s songs. The older material, and some of the new album tracks like the beautiful 10,000 Violins Playing Inside An Otherwise Empty Head, are often slow-building, multi-part epics. And the band do this well – Paris Milkshake, played midset here, in particular shines.

But somewhere along the line they’ve also learned how to refine this into streamlined, ear-worm singles – 1996 and I Still Like Kelis, both played tonight, are super-funky slices of uplifting joy, tinged with their ever-present melancholy.

I would have loved to have heard recent single Floating in a Vacuum and some of the other gems lurking on the album, like the suburban drama of Milk, but there’s plenty of time for that.

The set finishes with album closer Luliuli, which sees drummer Chris Jones step out from behind his kit to sing the song’s intro, before hopping back where he belongs and the rest of the band go into suitably apocalyptic overdrive.

They’re next playing in these parts at Victorious Festival on the Castle stage, early on Sunday. 

Now you’ve got no excuse for missing them.