Mt. Onsra and Goldenmother at the House
In this latest dispatch from Plymouth’s ever-evolving music scene, community reporter Joshua Edwards heads to The House — a venue fast becoming one of the city’s most compelling spaces for live music. With a sharp eye for performance and a deep love of the art form, Joshua captures a night that celebrates the city’s emerging talent, introduces two dynamic debut acts, and makes a strong case for The House as the spiritual successor to The Hub.
The House continues to be one of the most exciting live music venues in Plymouth. It’s the House and Leadworks, for sure, as far as places you’re near enough guaranteed to see something interesting at any given show.
This is not to be disparaging of any other venues, don’t mis-understand me. I love a pub venue, especially the kind of pub venue where, at first glance, you can’t really figure out where the band would even set up (The Nowhere Inn, I’ll always love you.) What the House provides is different. This place is slick, professional and driven first and foremost by the belief that music, especially live music, is an art form and therefore should be treated with some reverence.
It could fill a gap that’s existed since the Hub closed; a mid-sized venue for acts not main stream enough to fill Pavilions.
That is not to say that the House is only interested in established bands from out of town. Tonight’s gig is preceded by a gaggle of student bands. All of them are pretty decent, but cutting through the earnest Beatles covers is the Buzzards, a post-punk trio with a little Mission of Burma about them. It’s exciting to watch them and I find myself instantly following them on Facebook. Unlike their peers on the bill, the majority of their set is original material, but their covers of Love Will Tear Us Apart and Sonic Youth’s 100%, though ably performed, are a little on the nose. I say that painfully aware that at their age I was performing in a band that desperately wanted to be the Stooges whilst playing a cover of I Wanna Be Your Dog nightly, but it’s morally unethical for a reporter to review their own gigs from twenty years ago, so bullet dodged.
After the student bands wrap up, DJ Max Passion perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the evening with a moody and atmospheric collection of synth-laden Goth tracks.
Goldenmother opens the main event and, for my money, proceeds to steal the show. Straight away they fill up the room with opener, Northern Lights, which purposefully crawls out into the space, growing and expanding until everyone in attendance is in the belly of it being gloriously digested.
Singer-guitarist, Lois Gately, for those unfamiliar with her creative oeuvre, is an incredible talent with shades of Jeff Buckley and Jason Molina in her delivery. What stands out to me first at the house is how superbly bass player Sumika Summers’ vocal harmonies meld together with what Lois is singing. The result is magic.
Whilst Lois is brooding, Sumika is swaying centre stage and anchoring the whole thing (bassists are our safe spaces) and Matt Binney is ably driving the vehicle on drums, band founder and lead guitarist, Myles Chapman plays with himself. He paints pictures over the songs, filling them up and accentuating their positives.
Goldenmother are a band in the truest sense, everyone in the band is a cog in the machine and all of them are vital in making it work.
I heard them described as grunge and shoegaze, which doesn’t quite sum them up. This is not some throwback, sound of ’92 deal. There has been a resurgence of really interesting art rock bands in recent years and Goldenmother continue that trend. File them alongside King Hannah and Fontaines D.C.
On this night at the Hub though they are alongside Mt. Onsra, a much-hyped local band, who, like Goldenmother, are making their live debut. Unlike Goldenmother, they’ve been together since 2020, writing and producing a recorded library of songs that have been noticed by the BBC and gotten them booked for Bristol’s Arctangent festival before they’ve even stepped on stage.
Listening to those recordings prior to the gig, I would describe them as good to write to, because I understand a frame of reference that ingratiates me to the common man (#manofthepeople). What I mean is there’s a lot of space and depth to the music that aids focus and doesn’t insist upon itself so much that it becomes a distraction.
From the off, it is blatantly obvious how talented Mt. Onsra are as musicians. They even take a minor technical hitch early on in their stride. There is a controlled feel to their set. They are playing the songs in a manner that almost, not quite but almost, could be replicated just as ably by the band lip syncing along with a backing track. It is impressive, but the songs feel like they’ve not been given the chance to breathe and evolve in a natural way. They are well written, the band is tight, but it feels inorganic somehow.
It could be that they are getting started, that this is just their first gear, and if I see them play again with two or three gigs under their belt, they could be a force to be reckoned with, but tonight it feels like they’re cooling down for Goldenmother rather than Goldenmother warming up for them.
The audience at the House are receptive to everything presented to them throughout the night, however. A collection of music fans enjoying music together in a fantastic setting. The lighting and sound are exceptional, and I’d encourage anyone to make it to an event there ASAP.
The bar is a little pricey though. I’m looking into what I can justify on expenses…
