Gig review: Unknown Mortal Orchestra at Leeds University Stylus

The Covid pandemic kept musicians well away from their listeners for a few years. Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson is clearly intent on making up for lost time. With interest: one of the highpoints of tonight’s energetic, enthusiastically received career-spanning 90-minute set finds Nielson concluding a typically dexterous solo by taking his guitar for a leisurely stroll through the surprised capacity crowd – without missing a beat.

Originally from New Zealand and now based in Portland, Oregon, Unknown Mortal Orchestra provide proof that it is possible to build a considerable indie-scale success without compromising the band’s idiosyncratically eccentric vision.

Excellent new album V (the band’s fifth full-length studio album, and first double, and a return to a more inviting sound after the bristly edges of 2018’s Sex + Food) adds mellow yacht-rock vibes to Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s trademark blend of rubbery funk, woozy psychedelia and studio experimentation.

V is hardly an obvious crowd-pleaser: much of it sounds like it may have been recorded underwater, with blurry edges that suggest a musical equivalent of a faded watercolour painting. Even so, new tracks like the reggae-hued Layla (if you squint a bit, you might just about see the ghost of The Police hover over the song’s laidback skank) are welcomed like old friends tonight.

Despite (or perhaps precisely because of) expecting a bit of an investment of time and effort from their listeners, Unknown Mortal Orchestra are continuing to build their fan base while many of their contemporaries from the 2010s indie-rock landscape have faded into insignificance: the sold-out Stylus is significantly roomier than the venues the band have headlined in Leeds previously, and many in the enthusiastically attentive audience were little children when Nielson first received wider renown with 2010’s Ffunny Ffriends (not on the setlist tonight, but played following a request from a persistent heckler).

Touring as a four-piece, Unknown Mortal Orchestra prove to be a compelling live act: to the point where you hope that Nielson (a multi-instrumentalist and producer who constructs UMO’s albums largely by himself, piece by piece, in the style of Prince, a definite influence, especially on Nielson’s fierily acrobatic guitar playing) might be persuaded to employ the live band’s juicy grooves and nimble muscle in the studio.

Whereas UMO’s albums can for all their charms come across as overtly woozy, tonight’s set – culminating in the robust disco thud of Can’t Keep Checking My Phone, from 2015’s Multi-Love – is characterised by vibrant and sweaty dynamics, especially whenever Nielson extemporises on his guitar.