1000 Rabbits at The Abbey

Now Wave has just taken over the old Abbey Taphouse in Hulme. The pub – a Guildhall Road institution that ran a well-loved programme of community music events before going dark over a year ago – reopens as The Abbey, relaunched by the team behind YES and some of the best independent gig programming in the city.

There’s something to mourn in the loss of the Old Abbey Taphouse – a community hub with a radio station, pay-as-you-feel meals, refugee outreach, and a genuinely generous ethos towards grassroots promoters. But generosity evidently doesn’t keep the lights on. If anyone was going to take over the place as a live venue, Now Wave are a safe bet, and the list of opening shows is genuinely strong. 1000 Rabbits are maybe the most interesting entry.

The London five-piece – formerly known as Rabbitfoot – did things the old school way: 50 shows before they released anything. It paid off, landing them on Young Records (home to Sampha, The xx and FKA twigs) for debut single ‘Virgin Soil’ earlier this year. They describe themselves as an off-kilter art-pop picnic, which is a reasonable place to start: rhythm-forward, emotionally raw, and built for movement. “Ditch your self-consciousness and move”, instructs the press release.

‘Virgin Soil’ is pretty convincing, its cheeky, offbeat, palm-muted groove collecting violin, guitar and raw, intimate vocals from singer River, before the whole thing crashes into something considerably louder. ‘Rubik’s Cube’ leans into a more explosive side of the 1000 Rabbits’ sound, with darker verses cracking open into bright, cathartic choruses.

Closer ‘Spring Cleaning’ is more open and sweeping than anything that precedes it – less insistent rhythmically, more space between the sounds, as lyrics circle around loss and disorientation, with River watching herself from some future vantage point before the song dissolves into a repeated, almost mantra-like insistence that she’s happy, she’s so happy – which may or may not be true.