Channel One live at the Radar, Belfast

They create a beautiful tumult, all scrawling synth, insistent rhythms, corrosive guitar and narcotised vocal: Channel One are tuned into the strangest frequencies. Unfortunately, the RADAR crowd extremely sparse. Nonetheless those present appreciate what’s on offer. The band are sporting the electro-rocker look du jour, wearing black on the outside because black is how they feel on the inside.
Sartorial issues are irrelevant; the music is enough to ensure they stand out from the crowd. Hardwiring the crystalline, surface sheen of Berlin-era Bowie to the brooding electronic soundscapes of The Associates, Channel One deliver an invigorating manifesto. The pinball clatter of ‘Rhythm And Purpose’ builds incessantly, grasping towards dizzying peaks, and encapsulates the band’s mastery of dynamics, the ability to layer a song by intoxicating increments.
This is music you slowly surrender your heart to, the pull of that siren synth drawing the few acolytes in attendance ever closer. In truth, Channel One’s main concern is that they offer little by way of visual stimuli; the vigour of the music not matched by their stage manner. Rooted to the spot, they remain as static as the Medusa’s victims.
‘These Roads’, provides for a full-out, heel to the accelerator climax, its juggernaut assault irresistible, enticing delirious audience members to shed clothes and storm the stage. Stewards quickly quell the uprising. However, on this evidence, it seems safe to surmise that the dynamic surge of Channel One will not be so easily halted.