

Live Review: James Holden and the Animal Spirits @ ACCA, Brighton
The auspicious surroundings of the leafy University of Sussex campus find an eclectic line up of DJ-cum-band leader James Holden, and his Animal Spirits, with support in the guise of Free Love in an impressive plush 60s auditorium.
Posted: 17 October 2018
Words: Jim Wolfe
An extraterrestrial and shamanic collaboration in sound and audience hypnotism from James Holden.
The auspicious surroundings of the leafy University of Sussex campus find an eclectic line up of DJ-cum-band leader James Holden, and his Animal Spirits, with support in the guise of Free Love in an impressive plush 60s auditorium. Free Love, aka Suzanne Rodden and Lewis Cook, are a Glasgow electronic psych-trip duo that have created a stir in recent months since a name change (they were previously known as Happy Meals) with support slots for Flaming Lips and Liars. Tonight’s set is stripped back and purposefully ethereal with lit incense twirling its smoke around the stage and huge backdrop projections of natural scenes interspersed with electronic scenes and riotous cityscapes. Their spiralling synth sounds, pan pipes and shrill echoing vocals merge into a single cryptic signal and a mass of eclectic noise. This is what it feels like to be inside a TV looking out.

