AVAWAVES
VENUE GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER
DATE 19/06/2025
By their own admission, prog-tinted piano/violin duo AVAWAVES have been “locked away in the studio” in recent years, and they’ve been craving a return to the stage. Their decade-long partnership has proved hugely fruitful, writing two studio albums alongside scoring 2022 documentary Savage Waters and two seasons of Apple TV+’s quirky period drama The Buccaneers, and it’s the latter that’s kept them so busy. It’s evident, then, from their first tender swells of Anna Phoebe’s violin, to Aisling Brouwer’s throbbing synth finale, the pair have been waiting for this: for human connection. Two album title tracks make early appearances, with Heartbeat’s spacious, slow-motion pulse decorated with romantic strings, and Chrysalis, a more upbeat number sprinkled with pirouetting baroque pianos and Phoebe’s elegant embellishments. The violinist is captivating: her movements are dramatic and exaggerated without ever feeling overtly performative. Rather, she’s deeply immersed in her performance, and how she waltzes and sways across the small stage, regularly interacting with her bandmate and the audience, is endearing and impressive. There’s never a stray note.