REVIEW: Heavenly @ The Sinclair 4/19
Photo Credit: Alison Wonderland
Review by Robin Sheng
British indie pop band Heavenly performed at the Sinclair on April 19 as part of their North American tour in promotion of their newest album, “Highway to Heavenly.”
The album marked a return for the band after a long hiatus of nearly three decades. Primarily known for their output in the 1990s, Heavenly recently experienced a resurgence in public interest as several of their songs became viral on TikTok. Their North American tour began in April and will continue into June.
The show began with sets from two opening acts: The Swansea Sound and Jeanines. Partially comprised of Heavenly members, The Swansea Sound’s performance offered fans of Heavenly a peek into the members’ diverse capabilities. Songs such as “Mean to Be Mean” stood out in their humorous and playful tone. Meanwhile, Jeanines’ set offered several short but immediately resonant songs that leaned towards their catchiness and simplicity to the maximum extent.
By the time Heavenly took the stage, the crowd was already packed. Heavenly opened with the lead single from their latest album, “Portland Town.” The performance immediately highlighted several strengths of Heavenly as a band, namely their instrumental cohesion and their playful impulses.
The next song, “Sperm Meets Egg, So What?”, further leans into the band’s playfulness while recounting a debate of a much more serious nature. Before the performance, lead singer Amelia Fletcher announced to the audience that the song was written “for anyone with a parent”, indicating that the debate on pregnancy described in the lyrics was in fact between the narrator and their parent.
Heavenly’s performance of “Shallow” further highlighted something in particular of this concert that stood out to me— its acoustics. The mixing and live production are done flawlessly, contributing to a highly layered and encompassing tone that extended throughout the entire song, while also maintaining the softness and warmth of its essence. Fletcher’s rhythmically altered vocals in the chorus provided a sense of novelty in comparison to the studio version. The excellent live production further enhanced specific instruments and their emotional resonance on the audience.
In “Hearts and Crosses,” a song that describes a story of sexual assault through an otherwise seemingly bright instrumental, was delivered to a much more potent extent in the live setting, as it further highlighted the more overtly disturbing bridge section that only featured Fletcher’s vocals and the drums.
Another feature that stood out was Heavenly’s adeptness at demonstrating their tenser side. In songs such as “Deflicted” and especially “Press Return”, both of which are songs from the new album concerning modern politics, the band manipulated a more pointed style of guitar playing and deliberate melodies to create a more serious atmosphere.
At the same time, the show also featured entirely idiosyncratic songs such as “Me and My Madness,” which progresses through its slightly fragmented parts. One of these parts includes a tempo change, while still maintaining an excellent sense of emotional cohesion. Overall, the setlist was a great demonstration of Heavenly’s stylistic diversity.
The main section of the concert closed with “P.U.N.K Girl,” which immediately sent the audience swaying and dancing. It made sense that this was the song that elicited the strongest reaction from the crowd, as it was the first one to become viral on TikTok and begin the phase of renewed interest in Heavenly.
The performance demonstrated Heavenly’s cohesion as a band and their capability to seamlessly traverse through sections, as the contrast between the more stripped-down verses and the more expressive pre-chorus was highlighted.
The encore’s “Atta Girl” is a further testament to the band’s more serious and conceptual side, in which Fletcher and the other vocalist, Cathy Rogers, performed overlapping vocal parts that culminated in Fletcher exclaiming, “F**k you, no way!” in the chorus.
By contrast, the final song of the concert, “C Is the Heavenly Option,” is so thoroughly joyful that it was impossible not to enjoy the performance with a massive smile on one’s face. The lead singer of the opener, Swansea Sound, returned to the stage to perform trade-off vocals with Fletcher, as a replacement for the guest vocalist Calvin Johnson on the original studio recording. The performance’s liveliness and genuine expression of happiness very much ended the concert on a high note.