Bong

THE BLACK HEART, LONDON If your aim is to reach the infinite then the number of people it takes to reach that goal is going to be a moot point. Tonight, Bong have been distilled to the nucleus of a three-piece, but ultimately the confines of the Black Heart are going to be revealed as some arbitrary mental construct, giving way to vast reaches beyond. Tonight is a showcase for the new album, Thought And Existence, but like any band whose primary weapon is resonance, theirs is a set that reveals an enveloping dynamic all of its own. It begins with droning guitar frequencies, drums like a natural aeons-old phenomenon revealed in languid time-lapse, and Dave Terry’s monotone incantations. At first you feel as though you’re not sure if the drugs have kicked in yet. But such is the cumulative effect that without warning, you’re in the centre of a boundless state of bliss as layers are added, riffs unfurl and it all coagulates into a series of seismic judders like a post-coital moment with the cosmos.

JONATHAN SELZER