Live Review: The Big Splash - Semi Final 1

There's something unsettling about band competitions. Competition is a fine motivator, sure, but in the arts it can breed enmity where enmity has no place. Thankfully, the five acts at the first Big Splash Semi Final were professional to a fault, heaping much deserved praise upon their fellow semi-finalists. The evening's emcee, the charmingly annoying and annoyingly charming Ben Ainslee introduces us to the evening's first act, Villain. They're young – they look fresh out of high school, but they're bursting with talent. Twangy guitars and a rhythm section so tight it's hermetically sealed, their songs are straightforward, no-frills Britpop-meets-rock-rock-'n'-roll. Their influences shine through a touch too strongly; “I didn't know The Arctic Monkeys were playing tonight,” opines a nearby punter, but given they only formed this year, their potential is limitless.

Emcee Ainslee tells us the next act – wildcard entrant Apache – are psychedelic rock, and the first 30 seconds sound like they're riding the Tame Impala et al. wave of unimaginative psych, but that notion's soon dispelled as half the room seems to be wondering why the fuck these five guys were the wildcard and not the easy winners of their last heat. This is anything but pastiche: their songs evolve in unpredictable directions every minute, while all eyes focus on vocalist Timothy Gordon, utterly entranced in the journey. How do you follow that?

Awkwardly, it seems. These Winter Nights open as an acoustic two-piece with dual vocal melodies and acoustic accompaniment, but they're so subdued most of the room doesn't seem to notice. They're soon joined by a full band, though, and their opening song transforms into a densely textured piece of cinematic music. Their material flirts with middle-of-the-road normalcy from time to time, but it's performed with such emotional intensity that it's impossible not to get lost in the ambience.

Spacemen Antics drench everything in reverb, modulators and otherworldly effects, enough so their entire set sounds like music played underwater and in outer space. Soon enough the gimmick starts to wear thin, as they meander through self-indulgent songs that seem to go anywhere. There are clearly good ideas at play here, but the energy's misplaced into sounding much like everyone else on the psych bandwagon.

Technical difficulties delay UpnUp's set, which is understandable when you've got six instrumentalists to worry about. They open with an upbeat brass-heavy number and midway through their second song the two MCs – Coin and Marskman – rap from the back of the room up onto the stage. They rap about the everyday – ambition and the mundane nature of work and pop culture – but the atmosphere is equal parts casual and bursting with passion as Coin and Marksman work the crowd like seasoned professionals while the six-piece band provide a flawless musical foundation. They seem like a shoe-in to make it through to the final, but in the end These Winter Nights and Apache take the two spots. No matter, though: Big Splash or not, UpnUp are destined for tremendous things.