Human in Bloom

© 2016 David Rothwell

I first met Arty Florea at the Oxford Arms Pub in Camden, one of my local haunts good for a Saturday afternoon of football, however, I wasn't there for the football. I was there to hopefully meet anyone who had an interesting story to tell, as a photojournalist I was on the hunt for a story, so to speak. 

I got chatting to a guy namely, Arty Florea an Australian who can speak Italian and we had a few beers together, he told me how passionate he was about making music, and how he and Alfio Caracciolo (the band's drummer), had met and thus started their musical journey to London. A few weeks later and I came to photograph Arty and his band Human in Bloom at The Islington pub in Angel, London. The venue though small has a good sound to it, and the sound engineer did a good job, I listen intently as I'm photographing waiting for the right shot to capture some emotion, a shot that will be provocative and hopefully hit a nerve with the crowd, and this track; All The Fish finds the right spot, a minimal electronica meets soft rock, this is your pick up on the XX influence, a sound seemingly post-apocalyptic and reflective of a love lost.

© 2016 David Rothwell

All the material is their own and I am treated to The Armoury, a raw thrashy, deep baseline, almost experimental electronica meets indie pop, almost military in its delivery, the tracks and the band speak for themselves, they have developed their own sound and style and having been together for the last two years, they're very tight, so tight you could swear there was some sort of telekinesis within the band. They read each other well, instinctively knowing how to please the crowd, some of the work is eclectic folk, with a bit of pop, and indie-rock thrown in for good measure and shows how versatile the band really is. One of the tracks of the night was Late Ol’ Night, think Coldplay meets the XX meets Radiohead, but then auspiciously decides the best way forward is to simply copy themselves. 

Next up, it's the rather cool venue of 93 Feet East on Brick Lane, Shoreditch. Bigger venue, and so the crowd should really be up for this, I know I am up for taking some shots of this cool band, they're laid back but they know how to throw a party! We move on through Tee Vee and Arty and his cohorts, let rip, thrashing about on stage Art’s vocals find the high notes and another side of their musical knowledge show the depth of this band's creativity, they're fucking awesome, then they hit you hard with Be Like You, courtesy of Lead Guitarist Elliot Coombs and Bassist Giovanni 'Joe Abraso' Cresseri, a throbbing gut wrenching number that will slay you, but leaves you wanting more like some musically enthused deviant. All the work is finely rehearsed and with long term Muse collaborator Tommaso Colliva, at the helm in the studio these lads are heading for brighter lights.