- Mo Kolours has swagger. It was clear from the first second he sauntered onstage in the basement space that is Hi Fi, Leeds' finest and most intimate live venue. With a white towel around his neck, a loose beany barely curtailing his frizzy bouffant and a shirt so brightly patterned it immediately made you think of his half-Mauritian roots, he confidently grabbed the mic and started ad-libbing over a raw, syncopated drum track.
With a constant smile throughout his one-hour set, he strode up and down behind a table decked out with an MPC, some effects units, a CDJ and various esoteric percussive instruments, plus a couple sets of hand drums. As he mimicked every fat bassline with a raised hand, the sounds really seemed to come from inside the man himself, rather than the cold innards of his machines.
Mostly singing or playing bits of percussion over pre-prepared loops, Mo also tapped out impromptu patterns on the MPC and played Afro-tinged hand drums whenever the fancy took him. It was ramshackle and dishevelled—something that will surprise no one who heard his roughhewn debut album. During the track "Cars," he sung in his smoky-soul tone before beatboxing the sound of a speeding car. It was a simple but effective trick that made the set as visually engaging as it was musically playful.
In truth, it was maybe a rather rudimentary show, one that you could tell was still being developed, but that was part of the fun—the sense that anything could happen made it more engaging than a laptop loop-fest. It built in intoxicating layers, swelled with reverb and dissipated into slower and more stoner-friendly tempos. Between tracks, Mo exchanged quips with the 200-strong crowd in front of him. They saluted the arrival of each album track and were prepared to booty shake during raw and dirty new material. It's still early in Mo Kolours' career as a live act, but he's made a strong impression.