Mylets: Live at Islington Assembly Hall

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A skinny, geeky-looking blonde in a vest walks onto the stage. To the unsuspecting, he could be a roadie or a lost audience member looking for the bar, but it isn’t. This is Henry Kohen, the mastermind behind Mylets, Indiana’s one man loop rocker. Humbly he picks up his guitar, greets his audience, then quickly and efficiently fritters away at strings, pedals and a synthesizer. Bemused the audience look on as he lays down the founding blocks of “Trembling Hands” but within a few seconds he punches out riffs that forcefully remove most of our socks!

While his live performance comes across much as he does on his LP, Henry’s sung vocals seem stronger and his screams positively cut through me. The thing that really comes through however, is his energy, which is utterly dumbfounding. He plays everything live and in order to successfully play his complexly layered loops in the right timing, he has to be insanely fast and rhythmical. Even when no sound is coming forth, he seems to be working to an inner metronome and his hands and feet are like lightening. You can watch him perform on YouTube all you want, it won’t compare to watching Mylets live. He follows “Trembling Hands” with his album’s title track “Arizona” and while he speaks little to the audience, they are captivated.

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He is impressive to watch and he holds your attention solidly as he storms on through. Aside “Cartilage Colosseum”, all of tonight’s set is taken from Arizona and twice the set Henry stops only briefly to thank ASIWYFA for having him on tour and to make a dedication to a friend. Otherwise he’s a picture of whirring movement and solid concentration, blistering through his heavy rock stylings like a hurricane. After a what seems like much less, he finishes his 30 minute set, with “Retcon”, after which he simply and humbly says ‘Thank You’. To the sound of an appreciative audience’s applause, he exits the stage, making way for tonight’s headline act.

ASIWYFA won’t be far behind.

Set List: Trembling Hands / Arizona / Honeypot / Ampersand / Cartilage Colosseum / Retcon