Shoegazing was musical movement which was prominent in the 1980’s, dreamy pop music mixed with heavily delayed electric guitars and indecipherable vocals. Asobi Seksu are one of the few known bands still performing in this style, and with heavy Japanese influences from singer Yuki Chikudate, their shows are unlike any other on the scene. And with their song ‘Nefi and Girly’ having been featured recently in the teen drama Skins, their music has been introduced to a new wider audience.

But first, “Norwich’s finest noise-mongers” (so claim’s NME) Sennen take the stage. Their music is a bizarre combination of Placebo, Muse and something extremely boring. In theory their sound should be brilliant, but relying on distortion and being very loud, their songs seem to blend far too easily into one another. On record they sound stunning, however their live show needs to tone down on the same ringing guitars and muddled pop melodies before the sound can truly be translated in its brilliance.

With blue light tainting the stage, and the twinkling of fairylights twisted around Asobi’s petite frontwoman’s microphone the band are ready to take the stage with a burst of life with ‘Sing Tomorrow’s Praise’. While the spectacle on stage is very impressive, Chikudate’s vocals often get lost under layers of guitar, and the songs do tend to blend into one another a lot. However with the dreamy style of music and hypnotic vocals, it’s hard not to feel like dancing as they play through songs such as ‘Meh no Mae’, ‘In The Sky’ and ‘Transparence’. The highlight of the night comes from when the night takes a slower tone and one of their most melancholy songs is played, ‘Blind Little Rain’. The song is a welcome change as you can almost feel the song inside of you, penetrating as it’s played. It is an incredible performance for one of their most understated songs. The set end to heavy distortion being blared through the speakers, the band coming back onto the stage to play two encores, the first is for their song ‘Red Sea’ (during which Chikudate does a brief drum solo) and the second for ‘New Years’. ‘New Years’ is one of their most popular tracks and is stunning with the Japanese lyrics creating a nonsensical feeling as the band blow the crowd away with the powerful sound.

Asobi Seksu are a band who have been hidden in the underground for far too long, a well kept secret who will hopefully return to the UK soon to spread the joy and wonder of their spectacular performances.