Bat For Lashes is one Natasha Khan, tonight backed sparingly by two other girls on violin, handclaps and various odd instruments. She is clearly almost too nervous to speak, managing only a hesitant whisper, eventually starts playing piano and then... a confident, haunting voice somehow emerges, and a whole set of sparse beauty follows, incredibly fully-formed. Expect to hear more soon.
The Veils only play one song from 2004's debut 'The Runaway Found' but still don't disappoint, with new ones ranging from the clattering Nick Cave-esque Jesus For The Jugular to a couple of softer songs which show off Finn Andrews' cracked, intense vocals to full effect.
Three-piece Semifinalists all sing at various different points in their set, and all don't exactly have brilliant voices, but their seeming ambition to take the biggest headrush moments of The Flaming Lips and keep them up constantly for a whole set, plus movie projections of fireworks, stars and the like still makes for a very exciting, if slightly tiring, set. It will be interesting to see how it translates to their self-titled album released in a couple of weeks.
My Latest Novel already have a fantastic album, 'Wolves', the order of which their set roughly approximates, and a pleasure it is too. Ghost In The Gutter becomes even more fearsome and Learning Lego more furious, while The Job That Mr. Kurtz Done's switch midway through from gentle spoken word into bouncing pop is perfection. All of that is outdone by a monumental encore of The Reputation Of Ross Francis, surely single of the year so far and with a chorus made for shouting in unison by all members of the band and fans alike.
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