Live: Electrelane (Manchester Club Academy, 7.5.07.)

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

Album: Electrelane - No Shouts No Calls (Too Pure)

Having perfected a brand of playfully experimental indie-rock on their previous three albums, culminating in the messy, fitfully thrilling Axes, No Shouts, No Calls sees Electrelane ploughing a much more linear furrow. For the first time, song craft and way with melody is pushed to the fore in favour of an immediate, often catchy sensibility. It's a bold move, one that will irk the purists, but it's one that feels entirely natural and a big, brave step forward for the band.

This directness still comes allied to the influences that have driven Electrelane's sound thus far (Sonic Youth, Stereolab and Neu!) but grounding these more outré elements in touching pop songs full of desperation and regret is what makes No Shouts, No Calls arguably the crowning achievement of their career. From the opening paean to loss of innocence, 'The Greater Times', replete with Verity Susman's charmingly off-key vocal and yearning moog line, it's obvious that this clarity of sound suits the band well.

There's some really startling songs here; the sprightly, ukulele-driven indie-pop of 'Cut And Run', or the infectious, farfisa-heavy jam of 'Tram 21' (the instrumentals actually feel less incongruous here than they have before) for example. Some may pine for the atmosphere and nuance of The Power Out, but in rounding off some of the edges that made them a great band in the first place, they've opened up a range of possibilities as they head into what could be a rewarding second phase for the band.

http://www.highvoltage.org.uk/displaydemoreview.asp?num=2450&band=1657