Deap Vally @ Soup Kitchen, Manchester 7th September 2012
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Those worried that Deap Vally would fail to live up to comparisons that range from Black Sabbath to Janice Joplin to a stripped-back Led Zeppelin are tonight converted within moments of the girls opening salvo of slo-mo crunch chords and fuzzed-out retro-rock. The sloppy two-piece take to the stage kitted out like American Apparel alt-models, understandably drawing equal attention from the glare of expectant camera phones. And they’ll be far from disappointed as it’s a powerful, confident show packed with plenty of FU attitude. Lindsey Troy alternates between a mew and a holler and her permed partner Julie Edwards maximises the rudimentary drums-and-guitar set-up, belting out a righteous and rickety racket that belies the fact the twosome only met for the first time last year.
When the pair aren’t enthusing over the trendy neighbourhood outside they’re ripping a new hole in “Blue Orchid”-style White Stripes numbers. These girls are for real alright, chucking in a sexy blues-rock cover of the standard “I Put A Spell On You”. Towards the set close Troy takes a brief foray into the crowd holding court with heavy riffs, wailing like Robert Plant and getting free and easy with some solos. The one-track encore follows almost immediately and it’s a sludgy grunge rocker that recalls JEFF The Brotherhood ‘s similar posturing. It’s a brief show tonight but these high priestesses of primitive rock sure pack a punch, dispatching the small crowd to mob the merch stand for super-limited cassettes at its finale.