Easy Life are currently exploiting a niche market in the indie music scene excellently with their unique mix of hip-hop beats and horn work. Recently I had the pleasure of seeing them live at Gorilla in Manchester. The swagger the band showed when walking onto that stage was truly a sight to behold and the effortless chill they exuded was simply amazing.
They started with their song ‘Ice Cream’, which features on their first EP, ‘Creature Habits Mixtape’. This track really set the mood for the night, the crowd melted at the beat they were producing, and we were entranced. The crowd were egged on to sing along to a simple but effective chorus and during the verses were mesmerized by the emotion excluding from lead singer, Murray.
Next up was ‘Frank’, continuing in showing us how Murray is a master of feeling. He has a way of singing that effortlessly makes us empathetic for whatever he’s going through.
The band very much has this feeling of ‘everyday man’ throughout all their songs, they can’t help but be extremely relatable. They do however, have a cheeky, fun side to them too along with their more chilled out grooves. The track ‘Sunday’ from their latest EP shows this brilliantly. Murray chirps about the beginnings of a relationship in this one, perfectly conveying the greatness of the honeymoon period whilst the bubblegum beat perfectly transfers his feelings out onto the crowd, spreading euphoria about a honeymoon period we aren’t even going through.
Showing that the band knows how to write a killer chorus, next up was ‘Afters’ – my personal favourite from the newest release. The track is brilliantly written perfectly summing up teen feelings towards peers, the line “yeah my daddy’s rich but no-one understands me” is truly masterful and myself and my friend took great joy in belting it out during the chorus. ‘Temporary Love Part 1’, the next song they performed, truly made me fall in love with the band, the saxophone solos were incredible and the emotion it transferred to the crowd was simply electric.
The next track to be performed, ‘Slow Motion’, perfectly encapsulates everything the band gets right: an insanely catchy chorus which had the crowd bopping their heads uncontrollably; thought provoking lyrics and soaring horn solos. If the crowd wasn’t fully onboard by this point, then they were now. This was clearly seen with the startup of the next song ‘OPJL’, as the crowd practically roared in excitement. Producing such an excellent nostalgic sound and intoxicating beat, it isn’t hard to see why it’s a fan favourite. The song is also great at making you realise the subtle keyboard in the band’s songs, it adds a wonderful extra layer to the tracks.
Next up was the record the band is most well-known for, ‘Pockets’. Having been featured on FIFA, the song has been stuck in my head for forever and was the reason why I was at the gig in the first place. Perfectly summing up the struggles of the utter grind which is life, here Murray sings wistfully about trying to rack up enough money to have comfortable living but never achieving it. The message is helped with the catchy instrumentals and the unforgettable chorus.
The second last song to be played that night was ‘Wet Weekend’, a track from their recent release and arguably the best song on that recent EP; another song that perfectly encapsulates what Easy Life is all about. Murray truly shines on this one, effortlessly rattling off the lyrics he has penned. Once again you can truly feel what he is trying to get across in his lyrics and the beat once again greatly helps in this process.
‘Nightmares’ was the track the band played as an encore. Released as a single, the track takes their wonderful mixture of horn, hip-hop beats and keyboard to the next level. The crowd roared as the intro played and the old couple who had been standing to the right of us who had largely been quiet throughout the night suddenly became children once more. The crowd, despite their different backgrounds, singing along as one collective was truly a wonderful sight to behold.
Easy Life are on another UK tour this October, tickets are available through their website!
