Easy Life

Thursday night gigs are back, and Easy Life unleashed an energy many of us had not experienced in 18 months.

With the glare of the neon sign that lit up the band’s name, the electric mood was set. With lights low and an airport tannoy preparing us for lift-off, Easy Life walked onstage to the blare of a departure call. Playing tracks from their May debut, Life’s a Beach, frontman Murray Matravers opened the set with the intoxicating ‘a message to myself’, transitioning into ‘sunday’.

A sun-drenched Murray teased fans with an appearance from Arlo Parks as screams filtered through the room for ‘sangria’. Although Arlo’s vocals were only played on the backing track, Murray was forgiven. Their performance of the R&B / hip-hop hybrid track was laced with sincerity and carefree charisma. Despite the mellowness of its confessional lyrics, the catchy chorus was sung by all.

No-one does fan interactions better than Easy Life. For ‘skeletons’ Murray took a backseat as Millie, a fan from Leicester, asked to sing the entire song onstage. The pair screamed the final few lines together and this established the night as one of euphoric chaos. Moshpits erupted, with the final and biggest of the gig seeing Murray and Lewis take their instruments into the encircling crowd. More stage dives and crowdsurfs – it was as if the bleakness of the past year had briefly disappeared as the fans and band united.

Fan favourite ‘daydreams’ transforms breezy indie-pop into a fuzzy, soulful feel. Born out of lockdown idleness, the track was fantasy-filled, tracking day drinking to overthinking, to falling in and out of love, and the live instrumentation was a blend of sweet wistfulness.

The encore saw a repeat of ‘skeletons’, but sung by Matravers this time. Sam Hewitt’s groove-filled and effortless basslines lifted the crowd one last time as the band captured a whimsical and hazy atmosphere, redefining what it meant to be at an intimate record store gig.