When Cassia came bursting onto the stage with the titular track of the everyone, outside album, they instantly set the vibe of the evening: energetic, sunny and fun. The way frontman Rob Ellis bounded between singing, guitar and keyboard; the warm glow of the orange and yellow stage lights; the upbeat guitar riffs and clap-along beat – it was impossible not to grin and groove along immediately. I breathed a sigh of relief.
I first saw Cassia live nearly two years ago, opening for Circa Waves at the modestly sized Oxford O2. The trio were still a fairly small indie-pop band from Macclesfield – fairly unheard of, but I left convinced that they were the true stars of the show. Their 2022 album Why You Lacking Energy became my most listened-to album that year. I loved their jaunty, outdoorsy sound – reminiscent of easier times: childhood days spent climbing apple trees with your mates, eating rainbow ice-lollies and getting very sunburnt. And though they were now playing their biggest headlining show ever – in the much bigger London venue of HERE @ Outernet – at the end of a successful tour across the US, Mexico and Europe, I was glad to see their essence of boyish excitement and youthful joy was very much still the same. Wearing a shirt signed by audience members before the set, Ellis looked out across the crowd on the floor and on the mezzanine level with disbelieving wonder in between songs. “This is crazy scenes!” he exclaimed. Later, he gave a longer explanation: “We are so f****** happy to be here…We’re three lads from a small town, just cows and sheep around. This is a huge moment.”
Then, looking around for bassist Lou Cotterill and drummer Jacob Leff, he laughed and admitted: “I can’t even see Lou! He’s normally right next to me…they’re so far away!”
It was a profoundly sweet moment – totally unpretentious and heartwarming. It was clear through the night that these boys were friends, and the music they made came from that place: each track embodies that pure, unadulterated glee of gallivanting with your mates on a hot summer’s day, all blue skies and laughter and energy. By the aptly named fourth track ‘friends’, everyone was singing along and whistling along with Ellis, Cotterill and Leff. ‘Loosen Up’ – a sun-drenched earworm from the older 2019 album Replica – was freshened up with new instrumentalisation: bongos, which added a bouncy Caribbean flair. ‘Vitamin’ was also made groovier, with extra snare drums and bright, preppy guitar riffs becoming more distinct. These samba influences were a nice nod to Ellis’ childhood – growing up with an extensive collection of Afro-Caribbean records, which his father had brought back to the UK from Zambia. They gave the performance an added depth and showed how the band had matured and progressed musically while still staying true to their easy-going, outdoorsy sound.
But the real stand-out moment was when Ellis decided to “mellow things out” with another older song – ‘Don’t Make A Scene’. The shift from super amped up, electric fizz to a more pared-back acoustic sound was beautiful. An atmosphere of slow, golden warmth was created with a backing track of birdsong in the background and slow pulsing of deep orange lights. The experience felt like golden hour, and the audience swayed along, savouring the breather and the sense of connection: with each other, with the band and the band amongst themselves too.
Then, again, high energy. But now, instead of summer by day, we got summer by night. A greater emphasis on synths and a slightly darker, heavier mix for ‘Morning’s Coming’. ‘Similar’ was also mixed to feel more rave-like and psychedelic, while ‘miles out’ teased a more electronic sound. Anticipation built for the big finale. It struck me that the setlist had been structured in a very very clever way. Instead of presuming the audience knew the new album end-to-end, they had crafted a blend of widely-known hits like ‘Motions’ and ‘00 Times Over’ and less-known but still familiar older tracks like ‘Drifting’ and ‘Do Right’, with new tracks like ‘awake’ and ‘reframe’ peppered in. It meant the experience was not always perfectly cohesive, but the dynamism and charisma of the band, as well as the shimmering, foot-tapping nature of the music, kept the audience engaged throughout. Plus, it created regular opportunities to sing-along heartily to a song everyone knew the words to. The encore ended on ‘Right There’ – Cassia’s best-loved banger of a song. It’s indie-pop at its best: a simple, upbeat melody with a strong rhythm; uplifting, jangly guitar and an infectious tempo. You just had no choice but to dance and belt along.
The set, sound and light design went hand-in-hand with the music to emulate the vibe of being outside in the sun. An impressive feat to pull off, considering in reality, we were inside a rather dark and edgy underground bunker of a venue. The lights were sunshine tones – warm yellow, orange, red-hot and sometimes blinding white, while the backdrop was often a sky-blue, dotted with wispy white clouds. All in all, it was a lovely, sensory experience that perfectly encapsulated the delight and blissful satisfaction of summer. Be warned – I’m going to play this album at every upcoming barbecue, bobbing along while I sip a Pimm’s and telling anyone who will listen about this fresh, feel-good indie band I went to see.
Words by Jui Zaveri
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