photo credit: Ross Silcocks
The words ‘secret location’ sometimes fill us with dread; that well-oiled tactic to jazz up a trip to a popular city haunt. When written on an invite from Bristol’s Shapes, the claim holds a little more weight.
Stepping into the Church of St. Thomas The Martyr to the sound of Ben Klock & Marcel Dettmann’s ‘Dawning’ was certainly enough to blow the cobwebs out of the rafters. The first track they released together on Ostgut Ton was a fitting start to an evening that played host to the techno side of Shapes’ repertoire, a side they have certainly been honing and dominating in the city over the past few months.
The attention to detail on production that has become one of Shapes’ calling cards, was self-evident once again. A well-tuned sound system sat in the central quire (between the altar and the rest of the church, where the choir stand) to shower the room with a crisp, gorgeous sound. Bats hung upside down from the woodwork, skulls stared down at you from the choir stalls and there were even sawn-off fingers seeping blood in the urinals. Of special mention was the huge icon of Jesus staring down from behind the DJ booth, almost in fist-pumping pose, seemingly beckoning revellers to carry on. A constant prompt to smile, this backdrop was extremely powerful, but never overbearing or cheesy.
Costumes varied from a valiant attempt at Julius Caesar to puntastic ‘D-Edgar Davids’, dressed head to toe in orange and splattered with blood. The beauty of fancy dress is that everybody forgets themselves and remembers that fun is the most important thing, not which side one’s hair is parted.
Musically, the night was on point, thanks to the Shapes residents. Plastikman’s ‘Psyk’ got a rare outing, the acid sounds of Hawtin’s production filtering in and out, as if they were emerging from every nook and cranny the venue had to offer. Every so often, a turn towards the tech-house end of the spectrum would evoke great reactions from the crowd, with tracks like Subb-An’s Terrace Mix of And.ID’s ‘Erotica’ rocking the Church of St. Thomas’ in the same way they have previously done on Ibiza dancefloors. People could be seen dancing in every corner of the church, on pews and by the altar.
In not inviting a headline act, Shapes made an incredibly shrewd move. Their residents cover all bases musically and the mixing was just as tight as it would have been with a well-known DJ at the controls. Special mention has to go to Side-A, who navigated us through a brilliant catalogue of techno from Julian Jeweil’s aptly-titled ‘Boom’ to Hobo’s classic track ‘Incise’. Promoters are only as good as their residents, and The Chapel of Lost Souls was Shapes’ bold declaration. With a dramatic setting and attentive production, they successfully achieved their avoidance of the increasing tendency to hide behind big headliners and deceptive levels of ‘hype’.
Shapes host New Years Day at Motion, Bristol with Magda, Dixon and Catz & Dogz, among others. Follow them on Facebook for more info on their future parties.
