Big — Brave + Helm

BIG|BRAVE, a Canadian avant-garde metal band, play a London night alongside HELM at Signature Brew Haggerston in Hackney. The bill is presented by Baba Yaga's Hut.

BIG|BRAVE is a Canadian avant-garde metal trio formed in 2014, combining folk, doom metal and post-rock. The group is signed to Southern Lord Records and released its debut album, Feral Verdure, in 2014. Its more recent work, the album in grief or in hope, is the tenth record by the ensemble and moves towards denser, guitar-led compositions. Longtime touring bassist Liam Andrews, who has also played with MY DISCO and Aicher, joined guitarist and vocalist Robin Wattie and guitarist Mathieu Ball in the studio for the first time on that record.

The band's music sets extremes of distortion against delicate, quieter passages, and the songs are built on a pop song structure beneath loops of drone, electronic and heavy sounds. The album was recorded live, which the band says gives its performances a similar scale and character. Wattie has described wanting melodic phrasing running through the intensity of the instrumentation.

HELM are the other act on the bill. Signature Brew Haggerston is a venue in London that hosts concerts and shows, and this evening suits listeners already drawn to heavy, experimental guitar music.