Calva Louise – Live Review – Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds
By David Schuster, April 2026
Calva Louise are passionate about do-it-yourself, and they’re proud of it too. Singer and guitarist, Jess Allanic pauses between songs to point out that the video walls to the rear of the band were finished late the night before. Constructed and painted by bassist, Alizon Taho and drummer Ben Parker, who completes the trio. But that hands-on ethos goes much deeper than that. The post-apocalyptic images being shown on those screens are taken from the group’s music videos, directed and edited by Allanic. The desire for control of what they do means that, despite many plaudits, they’ve never signed to a traditional record label, preferring to self-produce their releases.
Tonight is the first night of the band’s ten date headline tour, and it’s sold out. The capacity crowd are happily squeezed into the subterranean confines of the Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds. Despite being single figure temperatures outside, it’s very hot in here, a contrast that the singer points out, quickly taking a swig from a water bottle to cool her vocal cords.
As you might expect from a group that clearly eschews convention, the set list so far has been interesting and unusual. In the ten years since they formed, the band have released a respectable, but moderate, four albums. Tonight’s tracks though are taken solely from the latter two, 2023’s Over the Threshold and their most recent, Edge of the Abyss. In fact, the first three, ‘Tunnel Vision’, ‘W.T.F.’ and ‘El Umbral’ are all taken from the current album. If the packed crowd are disappointed by this choice, there’s no sign of it. Almost from the first bar of the opening number the packed crowd are jumping and moshing.
“Great rapport”
Those song choices work well together, forming a coherent musical narrative for the evening. They go on to play ‘Third Class Citizen’ and ‘Over the Threshold’, from the album of that name, both of which nicely continue the theme. That storytelling, the adventures of Louise (from the trio’s name), has always been central to the group’s musical creativity, driven by Allanic. Indeed, they’ve also documented these adventures in a series of graphic novels, illustrated by the vocalist.
I first saw Calva Louise seven years ago. Since then, their inter-continental hybrid of genres and influences has evolved into something more easily categorised as ‘post-hardcore’, slow, quiet interludes punctuated with full on thrash guitar and screamed vocals. This convenient pigeon-holing may be the route through which they achieve the more widespread recognition which they deserve. BBC Radio 1 certainly thought so, naming them as one of their ‘Artists You Need To Know’ in 2024.
It’s clear that the musicians love playing live, grinning at each other between tracks and throwing themselves into their music. It’s perhaps explained by the title of one of the later numbers tonight, ‘Con Corazón’, meaning ‘With Heart’, which is exactly how they play. They also have a great rapport with their fans. At one-point the vocalist spots a lady at the front of the crowd waving a huge Venezuelan flag. Originally from the country herself, before relocating to the UK, she exclaims. “Puede que seamos pequeños, pero hacemos mucho ruido!” Before translating for us. “We may be small, but we make a lot of noise!”
“Independent spirit”
It’s true! For a trio, they produce a full and complex sound, achieved with a lot of skill, and a bit of technology. Both singer and bassist also play keyboards in parallel to their guitar work. The bassist augments Parker’s traditional drumming with Prodigy style samples and techno beats, whilst the vocalist plays more classical, harpsichord toned, arpeggios. The latter requires a two-handed technique, not easy when you have a guitar slung around your neck. She achieves this with a bespoke keyboard stand, which allows her to quickly pull the instrument in front of her to play, and whisk it away when not required. At this point, it’s no surprise to learn that this was also engineered by Taho, who’s obviously a man of many talents!
It’s very true to the independent spirit of Calva Louise when, a couple of songs from the end of a very enjoyable and energetic show, they say that these will be their closing numbers. No spurious encore or hanging around to see if they’ll come back on stage. They just finish in style and head off, carrying their guitars through the crowd to work the merch stall. After all, why not do it yourself?
images: Gail Schuster
David Schuster describes himself as an “adventurer, collector, musician and writer. Not necessarily in that order.” Growing up west of the Pennine hills of the UK and living his adult life east of them, he’s inclined to think that the Wars of the Roses were a mistake. David loves discovering new bands and musicians and is happiest listening to live music. He has travelled extensively in the UK and is fascinated by the variety, history and landscapes of the thousands of islands that comprise the British Isles. David is always reassured when online shops confirm that he’s not a robot.
