Review: Harvey Causon, Rough Trade – ‘A vantage point, a vindication, a message to relay’

Harvey Causon is glad to be back. Joined on stage by his four-strong band at a packed-out Rough Trade, he is a humble presence, grateful for the company of a keen, receptive crowd.

For the last few years, Causon has been building a reputation from his base in London, developing his distinctive sound that blends soulful, glitchy electronic and vocals.

On top of touring on his own and as part of Sampha’s band, he has been putting in the hard graft of creative growth, along with the real tough nut of getting his work out there.

From a listener’s perspective, that’s easy to forget: he seems to have the wind in his sails, with debut album Square Breath released in November 2024 following a string of acclaimed EPs and singles.

But Causon is not one to forge ahead alone. His latest work is a blend of solo creation and collaborations with friends and fellow writers, musicians, and producers, and the sense of togetherness shines through in the warmth and diversity of the songs, as well as the live performance.

With several of Square Breath’s tracks on their first live airing, it feels like there is trust in the room, an undercurrent of support, a web of roots.

Violin by Magnus Westwell brings delicate, shivered layers to some of the quieter tracks, and a forceful arc to the louder instrumentals.

Christina Lopez’ drums are like a lightning rod, added to at times by additional drumming from Rob, an asymmetric percussive structure in stereo. Guitar and bass complete the lineup around Causon’s synth, keys, and vocals.

As with Causon’s catalogue, tonight’s set is rich in contrasts. The slow-build of album opener Winded Abdomen hinges out, a colour-dripped sound-wall, its line “a message to the loved ones” surrounding and holding everything that’s to come.

And somehow this feeling infuses even the most frenetic of the pieces to follow. Psycho, a bright and jagged nugget early in the album, sweeps us into a whirl of loud light-and-dark, here flashed red on the stage between plunges of black.

It’s a track charged with urgent energy, relentless with its brisk bass—until it does relent, cutting the noise for a blast of blank space. Warped, muffled vocals are so satisfying in this live version, tensing and tightening until the track drops, flooding back in with instrumentals. “Then it comes in, then it goes out” heaps up the fevered loops of an anxious mind.

The rawness of Causon’s delivery is compelling. He visibly pours emotion into every song he performs, channelling the sentiment of their origin as if everything were happening right now.

In sharp relief with the pounding energy, Impasse, with its picked-out backing on acoustic guitar, is full of utter softness, a song of longing and distance.

Folklore opens the gaze wide, moving from introspection to ideas of privilege and culpability in the climate crisis. With a keen focus on storytelling, asking “what do we want our folklore to be?” this is a track that Causon prefaces with its context: the mass die-off of fish and crustaceans around Britain’s northwest coast in 2021, in which dredging, pollution, and algal blooms were all investigated as potential causes.

The acerbic “Folklore depleting, the culprit receiving” centres Causon’s attention to integrity and responsibility.

Of course, nestled among this show’s never-before-played tracks are a handful of well-known and loved tunes. Tenfold (known by some for its inclusion in FIFA’s 2022 soundtrack) carries its themes high like a torch – “cases ramp up tenfold… stark asymmetries unfolded overnight, created something bleak, tenfold in the night.”

It’s a song full of power and unease, and my absolute favourite; a howl, taking on aesthetic solidity and knitting into the memory.

Later, the chiming opening triads of London Stock hit with a ripple of recognition. Scuffled percussion melting into the pockets of suspense, measured keys hold the space like a timer. The chorus drop “Yellow London stock…” comes in piece by piece, tremored with anticipation.

After a final track that isn’t, Causon is called back for Memorabilia, which closes up the night as it closes up the album: ghostly piano, strings that breathe in and vanish.

Hushed, unsettled, it feels like a stirring somewhere deep; “I hear the winds change while you’re sleeping” – all is not as it seems. Blanketed in time, it holds hope and uncertainty in graceful coexistence.

All images: Genevieve Reeves

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