Spotlights (9) opened the evening with a set that immediately established the tone: immersive, textured, and quietly powerful. Formed originally in San Diego before relocating to New York, the band: Mario Quintero (guitar/vocals), Sarah Quintero (bass/vocals), and Chris Enriquez (drums) have built a reputation for blending shoegaze ambience with heavy, slow-burn metal, drawing comparisons to bands like Deftones and Pallbearer.
Their set focused heavily on material from their Tidals EP, moving through the record in sequence before closing with a newer track. Opening with Walls, the room was immediately filled with dense, pulsing distortion and raw emotional weight. Mario’s vocals shifted between restrained melody and harsher delivery, while Sarah’s bass created a deep, resonant foundation that could be felt through the floor of the venue. The sound was heavy but never overwhelming; textured rather than aggressive.
The Grower leaned further into a doom-shoegaze atmosphere, slow and cathartic, with the kind of low-end presence that makes smaller venues feel enormous. The interplay between bass and guitar created a hypnotic quality that held the room’s attention completely. Tracks like Hover and To The End continued that balance between ambience and heaviness, with drummer Chris Enriquez providing a steady, deliberate backbone that allowed the songs to expand naturally. There’s a patience to Spotlights’ songwriting, nothing feels rushed, and live, that restraint makes the heavier moments land with real impact.
By the time they reached Joseph, the set shifted into a more ambient space, before closing with Sunset Burial, which blended delicacy and distortion in equal measure. The transition from softness to heaviness across the set felt intentional and cohesive, making the performance feel less like a support slot and more like a carefully constructed introduction to the evening. Spotlights were intense yet accessible, a genuinely compelling start to the night and a perfect tonal bridge into what followed.
After a quick changeover, A.A. Williams (10) took to the stage in low light and near-silence, immediately transforming the atmosphere in the room.
Classically trained as a pianist and cellist before moving into guitar-led alternative music, A.A. Williams has developed a sound that sits comfortably between post-rock, gothic ambience, and modern metal. Since the release of her debut album Forever Blue in 2020, followed by Songs From Isolation (2021) and As The Moon Rests (2022), she has built a reputation for performances that prioritise emotional weight and atmosphere over spectacle.
At the Hare & Hounds, that approach translated beautifully. From the opening moments, she wove dark, gothic ambient magic through the room, holding the audience in complete stillness. Her voice; controlled, expressive, and quietly powerful, carried effortlessly over the band’s expansive sound.
Songs from across her catalogue appeared throughout the set. Material from Forever Blue felt particularly powerful in this setting, with Glimmer, Love And Pain, Dirt, and Melt translating into deeply immersive live moments. Glimmer felt fragile and almost folk-like in its delivery, while Melt built gradually from near-silence into a towering emotional crescendo.
Newer material sat seamlessly alongside it. Pristine moved from delicate restraint into thunderous intensity midway through, while As The Moon Rests filled the venue with rich guitar textures and slow-burn power. Throughout the set, the contrast between softness and heaviness remained the defining feature of the performance.
A.A. Williams doesn’t rely on theatrics or dramatic stage presence, the power lies entirely in the music and atmosphere. In a venue as intimate as the Hare & Hounds, that restraint becomes mesmerising. By the time the closing song faded out, the room felt suspended in that quiet emotional space her music creates.
Both Spotlights and A.A. Williams delivered performances that felt deeply connected in tone and intention, an ambient-metal pairing that worked effortlessly together.
The Grower leaned further into a doom-shoegaze atmosphere, slow and cathartic, with the kind of low-end presence that makes smaller venues feel enormous. The interplay between bass and guitar created a hypnotic quality that held the room’s attention completely. Tracks like Hover and To The End continued that balance between ambience and heaviness, with drummer Chris Enriquez providing a steady, deliberate backbone that allowed the songs to expand naturally. There’s a patience to Spotlights’ songwriting, nothing feels rushed, and live, that restraint makes the heavier moments land with real impact.
By the time they reached Joseph, the set shifted into a more ambient space, before closing with Sunset Burial, which blended delicacy and distortion in equal measure. The transition from softness to heaviness across the set felt intentional and cohesive, making the performance feel less like a support slot and more like a carefully constructed introduction to the evening. Spotlights were intense yet accessible, a genuinely compelling start to the night and a perfect tonal bridge into what followed.
After a quick changeover, A.A. Williams (10) took to the stage in low light and near-silence, immediately transforming the atmosphere in the room.
Classically trained as a pianist and cellist before moving into guitar-led alternative music, A.A. Williams has developed a sound that sits comfortably between post-rock, gothic ambience, and modern metal. Since the release of her debut album Forever Blue in 2020, followed by Songs From Isolation (2021) and As The Moon Rests (2022), she has built a reputation for performances that prioritise emotional weight and atmosphere over spectacle.
At the Hare & Hounds, that approach translated beautifully. From the opening moments, she wove dark, gothic ambient magic through the room, holding the audience in complete stillness. Her voice; controlled, expressive, and quietly powerful, carried effortlessly over the band’s expansive sound.
Songs from across her catalogue appeared throughout the set. Material from Forever Blue felt particularly powerful in this setting, with Glimmer, Love And Pain, Dirt, and Melt translating into deeply immersive live moments. Glimmer felt fragile and almost folk-like in its delivery, while Melt built gradually from near-silence into a towering emotional crescendo.
Newer material sat seamlessly alongside it. Pristine moved from delicate restraint into thunderous intensity midway through, while As The Moon Rests filled the venue with rich guitar textures and slow-burn power. Throughout the set, the contrast between softness and heaviness remained the defining feature of the performance.
A.A. Williams doesn’t rely on theatrics or dramatic stage presence, the power lies entirely in the music and atmosphere. In a venue as intimate as the Hare & Hounds, that restraint becomes mesmerising. By the time the closing song faded out, the room felt suspended in that quiet emotional space her music creates.
Both Spotlights and A.A. Williams delivered performances that felt deeply connected in tone and intention, an ambient-metal pairing that worked effortlessly together.
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