Around this time four years ago, aka an ancient golden era of human contact and music louder than your laptop speaker, Bicep were launching their debut album at District 8 in Dublin’s Tivoli Theatre. As with every live show from the Belfast duo, it was a full-on boisterous, sweaty mass of big room techno energy, and there might’ve even been some stage diving.
Tonight, the launch of album number two is on a whole new toned-down level — a broadcast from London’s Saatchi Gallery. But even if there’s no close contact ruckus, the pair have been drip-feeding visuals by collaborator Black Box Echo and sonic snippets in the build-up.
They had to craft a more downtempo listening experience for the album Isles, but they’ve given the album a more rugged rework for tonight’s show, so it could be a chance to get back to the wild west days of lockdown No1 when the novelty of solo or bubble home partying was still a novelty.
Bicep stream a live show from from the Saatchi Gallery tonight (Friday). Tickets at dice.fm)