Phil Greenhalgh picks his Liverpool Musical Week closing party highlight and whilst quite rightly extolling the virtues of Pink Kink suggests that their two recent rapid-fire singles are not wholly indicative of the band’s oeuvre

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Below you’ll find some intentionally mono pics from yet another triumphant return to the Invisible Wind Factory stage for Pink Kink at LMW closing party 2017. Almost 2 years on from their first high octane gigs, Pink Kink remain one of the most vital and engaging live ‘must–see’ bands around right now. Even seeing them many times, 2 years on, the grin doesn’t fade.

‘Intentionally mono’ seems a little incongruous for trying to capture such a vibrant pinball table of a performance, but it’s a ham-fisted attempt to make a comment about their recent releases ‘Bubble butt’ and ‘Munchie Magic’. In the context of the live set, these two songs are a wonderful punch in the face with a pineapple; laden with acidic irony, their positioning in the set lurches from dark brooding chant to shouting-in-your-face bubble punk. It’s the flick-of-the-switch schizoid swing that makes Pink Kink sets mesmerising and unforgettable.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with either recording, they rise to the challenge of recreating the live madcap vibrancy of each song. The irony is there, the strong message rolled in rainbow glitter is still there. They are in fact two of multiple highlights of the live set…

But a rainbow appears strongest when it falls on a slate grey dark sky.

Outside the set, out there on their own, these tracks represent but one half of the balance between light and shade that the live set delivers in spades to the temple. in isolation there is the risk that these aren’t true to the whole, at worst the ‘cleverness’ could be lost, pitching Pink Kink into the arena of novelty pop and that would be a travesty. It was always going to be a challenge to represent the underlying complexity of what a Pink Kink live set delivers in something so selective as a single format.

Here’s hoping that this is part of a cunning master plan and they are going to quickly follow up with something like ‘Pattern People’ to redress the balance. But herein lies the appeal of Pink Kink, their way, fuck you, enjoy the ride or get off, expect the unexpected.