Report: LIIMA – Village Underground, London

Efterklang's next steps...

There’s an old Japanese proverb, which goes something like: just because I am silent, do not think me a wall.

These words come to mind when approaching Efterklang, a group who went on hiatus in 2013 and have yet to fully emerge. In actuality, however, the musicians involved have rarely been busier, hosting live events, helming a radio station and pursuing new project LIIMA.

Pronounced ‘lee-mer’ the group feature Efterklang trio Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen and Rasmus Stolberg working alongside Finnish percussionist Tatu Rönkkö. With a handful of shows under their collective belt, LIIMA announced a one off show at London’s Village Underground and Clash, intrigued, naturally went along.

Amidst a pared down set up – only a few lamps adorn the stage, with minimal lighting elsewhere in the venue – LIIMA emerge onstage after an imposing drone set from John Spence. Setting out their stall in a half-circle, the band seems to wish to imply equal parity between members. Playing exclusively new material, LIIMA make few concessions but there is an almost immediate rapport between the audience and the musicians onstage.

Rhythmically complex, the fluttering percussion is built from samples and electronics, a diverse selection that moves from thudding concrete to something approaching the balletic. There seems to be a conscious shift towards the electronic world, with LIMMA evidently soaking up the most cerebral end of techno. At times, the collective even appear to nod towards London’s bass redoubt, with certain tracks betraying dubstep’s worship of the echo chamber.

Vocally, Casper Clausen remains as beguiling as ever, his melodies soothing the otherwise Brutalist spaces occupied by the music. Often fascinating, the group’s warning that this is essentially a public rehearsal should be taken literally; at points, LIIMA’s meandering could become frustrating. This is simply the sound of a collective sketching out borders, though, and for each moment of wonky abstraction the crowd was re-paid in floods of clarity, defying genre but refining something new, something genuinely worth exploring.

Far from perfect, then, but an experiment worth undertaking.

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