Tapir!

They debuted at the start of 2024 under the banner of experimentation, moving comfortably between indie-folk and chamber-pop while folding in elements ranging from art-pop to post-punk to folktronica and prog, earning a rightful place among the year's first standout releases with their debut "The Pilgrim, Their God And The King Of My Decrepit Mountain", suspended between reality and an imaginative world: we're talking about Tapir!. After a first summer visit to Italy, within the frameworks of Ypsigrock and Mojotic Festival, the London sextet led by singer and guitarist Ike Gray promptly returned with four autumn dates, the second of which was set at the Locomotiv Club in Bologna. On hand were bassist Ronnie Longfellow, Tom Rogers-Coltman on guitar, keyboardist Will McCrossan and Wilfred Cartwright on drums and cello, while Emily Hubbard was replaced by Italian musician Francesca Brierley on synths only. The absence of the cornet during the performance meant even more minimal arrangements, though no less effective than those on record.

No support act to warm up the atmosphere, and the crowd takes its time arriving, battling the cold made even more unpleasant by Bologna's typical humidity (on top of the weather and sheer laziness, arch-enemies when it comes to midweek gigs).

The live set is obviously centred largely on the debut album, but also leaves room for something new, a sign that something is brewing and that the band will keep making headlines in 2025.

The opening is entrusted to the unreleased "Debt To The World", which puts Gray's voice front and centre over a few light guitar arpeggios underpinned by bass and drums, leading straight into the show's first high point, brushed by the choruses and grizzlybeariane textures woven by cello, synth and guitars on "On A Grassy Knoll (We'll Bow Together)". Things continue with the drum tolls of "Swallow", the caressing "The Nether (Face To Face)", another track that showcases Gray's vocal gifts, and a sparer "Untitled", sung as a duet with Brierley.

The vocalizations on the shorter "Hallelujah Bruv", released in August, pave the way for some faint Wilco-ish echoes on "Gymnopédie", one of the peaks of the performance, alongside the choral, intense "My God" and the guitar figures of the following, stripped-back "Eidolon".

Bringing things to a close are the ballad “Hope Ur Proud” and “Clothing Line”, a pair of as-yet unreleased tracks, along with the playful sonics set against the creepy lyrics of the single “Nail In A Wooden Trunk”. No encore, just a warm farewell to an audience still spellbound by what they've just witnessed, and the curtain at the Locomotiv falling just moments after the band leaves the stage; but, as already hinted, it's merely a see-you-very-soon.

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