Electrelane, so good on record, had passed me by as a live act in the past. Until recently, I can't ever remember expressing any desire to see them in concert, even though I've been a passive admirer of theirs since early this century, upon hearing 'I Only Always Think' at university. I guess there's just something about their music that screams "home listening only" to me, but I just never really entertained the notion that they would be able to cut it live. Was I right?
Well, partly. Tonight, Electrelane, touring in support of what I think is their best album to date, the luminescent kraut-pop of No Shouts, No Calls, take a little time to get going. This sees set opener, 'Bells', from 2005's Axes and, more disappointingly, 'The Greater Times' fall a little flat. They don't hit top gear until a menacing, borderline furious 'Eight Steps' around four or five songs in, but after that, they succeed in building a tangible level of mood and atmosphere that even the dodgy Club Academy sound system can't ruin.
The band are clearly enjoying playing the punchier, more direct new songs, like the jagged instrumental 'Between The Wolf And The Dog' and the sweet, Gallic-tinged pop of new single, 'To The East', but it's also allowed them to breathe a bit of focus into the older material that gets aired, with 'Blue Straggler' being particularly impressive. Despite the fact that it took a while to light a fire under them (chalk that one up to it being the first night of the tour), Electrelane ultimately proved themselves as a band with very little left to prove to anyone and obviously relishing this position.
http://www.highvoltage.org.uk/displaydemoreview.asp?num=2633&band=1657
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