I managed to catch this band before they became a dark cloud in the glittery sky of pop a couple of years later, which included a sold-out show at Rock City which I also attended but didn’t review. Here they honed that miserable look, and this gig pointed them towards a bright – or should that be dark? – future…

Date: September 25, 2008

Venue: Bodega Social

Walking across the stage with the nonchalant gait of a demigod, you know these guys have a confidence which belies their short existence. With only a handful of tunes to show off, they do so with a performance which exudes the self belief of a band who have been doing this lark for years.

Draped in black and looking as miserable as Morrissey confined to a caravan in Cleethorpes in mid-January, this is no Klaxons Technicolor love-in. No, this is hardcore, but beautiful, majestic yet murky hardcore with a sonic boom which vaults from the speakers and nestles into the deepest recesses of your mind.

Consider the thrust of first single Unfinished Business. It shifts through multiple layers until it’s teetering on the edge of the kind of crescendo that befits an 80s road movie. It sweeps and then soars on a journey of heartache and then promise via Echo and the Bunnymen’s moody shtick. And it’s not even their best song. That accolade goes to Death, which throbs via a fret-changing guitar and an epic plangent vocal. Trust me, this band could become the new Editors – and believe in White Lies.