Within a hazy dirge of showmanship feedback, Australia’s self confessed oddball Luke Steele takes to the stage with criminally high levels off self assurity. Grinning like a Cheshire cat with a band in toe who shrink back in his presence, he greets his audience with warm enthusiasm.

Steele’s history is an interesting one, a typical song writing genius, a multi instrumentalist with prodigy-esque tendencies, that acute search for perfection and a temperament that many find impossible to be around. He sacked his band twice, one of them including his own brother, and his long suffering record company have had to cope with a not too media friendly attitude, giving interviews that were often nonsensical, involving  bizarre religious outpourings of his own creating.

Tonight despite vague evidence of eccentricity, Steele’s connection with band and audience appear to be in tact. As he breezes through the heavily produced new album ‘Personality’, its clear that the absence of the lush orchestration and multi-layered harmonies is noticeable but they still amazingly manage to hold their own. The new single ‘God Lead Your Soul’ being the only new track that maybe struggled, mainly due to its phenomenal production values on record.
 
Every now and again Steele would epileptically thrust around the stage, using his guitar as a mock machine gun at one point, building up wall upon wall of distortion, channelling it through several effects peddles to develop noises that wouldn’t sound too unfamiliar on a 1960’s BBC sound effects disc. Its a fascinating if a little unnerving spectacle for those unfamiliar with The Sleepy Jackson’s live imagery, but just as the self indulgence begins to wear thin he would launch into a classic. The unmistakeable riff of ‘Good Dancers’  light up former bewildered faces and boy does he deliver, a 6 minute rock epic pulling out all the stops, making up for any in-between song arsery, truly stunning. It’s all strummed on a 3,000 pound guitar he had bought purely because his fiancée advertised it in a guitar mag (he was telling us, during one of his many bizarre monologues) and he certainly puts it to good use.
 
By the time of the encore of the much loved single ‘Vampire Racecourse’ it was clear for some that the predominately new set in favour of classics from ‘Lovers’ was a little disappointing but putting it context with just how much effort was injected into this show, it was surely a minor gripe. Steele has proved his worth not only as a studio magician but as a highly competent live performer, balancing (if a little precariously) his quirkiness and showmanship with an ability to transport his creations to the stage successfully. May the world finally turn on to this remarkable act.
 
8/10
 
James Heward

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1.Guillemots - If the world ends (taken from the album ‘through the window pane)

Pretentious…Guillemots….never. Despite the odd niggles, their debut album, Through the window pane’, is a powerful body of work. Shamelessly self indulgent but parading a well justified smugness in the wake of true works of art as this particular track. "If the world ends, I hope you are here with me, I think we can laugh just enough to not die in pain", sings Fyfe Dangerfield, over a heart tearing melody. It’s a lighters in the air ballad there’s no escaping that, but the sheer emotional weight of these beautifully blunt lyrics make this an outstanding track.

2. The Sleepy Jackson - miles away   (taken from the album personalities)
3. The Pipettes - ‘dirty mind’   (taken from the album ‘we are the pipettes’)
4. Fields - song for the fields   (taken from the e.p ’song for the fields’)
5. Captain - hazelville   (taken from the album ‘welcome to hazelville’)
6. Love Is All - turn the tv off   (taken from the album ‘nine times that same song’)
7. Divine Comedy - diva lady   (taken from the album ‘victory for the comic muse’)
8. Midlake - roscoe   (taken from the album ‘the trails of van occupanther’)
9. The Walkman - another one goes by   (taken from the album ‘a hundred miles off’)
10. ILiketrains - terra nova   (taken from the mini album ‘progress reform’)

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With the emphasis being on 3 minute jagged indie anthems about subjects as far detached from real life as possible at the moment, it’s nice to happen upon the likes of Guillemots. A band who shamelessly parade their musical abilities with lavish orchestral pomp and lyrical sincerity. Usually bands who can play their instruments are generally coincided to be called Coldplay or Keane, but Guillemots have proved with their debut epic, that excellent song writing doesn’t have to be faceless or middle of the road but have a sting in its tail.
 
There’s no two ways about it Guillemots are undeniably self indulgent, but if you are this talented…. God… who wouldn’t be. With the ability to write pure genius pop songs such as ‘Trains To Brazil’ and ‘We’re Here’ they prove that they can wipe the floor with any respected guitar act that are thrown into their layer, whilst being able to take on such spiraling epics of  vocal grandeur as Jeff Buckley and the musical prowess of Radiohead with no difficulty whatsoever.
  
‘Through The window pane’ has Mercury Prize written all over it and perhaps it’s the accessional muso flirtations that are the only gripe with this near perfect debut. The song ‘Blue would still be blue’ being the only real let down. A tiresome unaccompanied keyboard bleep is the musical basis for singe Fyfe Dangerfield to show of his vocal skills in a cringing OTT manor that grates after a mere minute (its nearly 6 minutes long), but they quickly redeem themselves with the achingly beautiful ‘If The World Ends’ which is a kind of a modern day ‘There is a light that never goes out’.
 
For a debut album this is quite simply stunning. Guillemots have created an indie pop opera, that will be in many peoples top 10’s by the end of the year.
 
9/10

James Heward

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You have to hand it to Brighton’s Pipettes. Three charming young women with a wicked sense of humour, who are steadily switching on a nation with an eclectic range of pop styles.

At first glance they are as disposable as Kleenex. Bedroom hairbrush divas getting ready for a night out, an old VHS copy of the musical ‘Grease’ playing in the background. Although they do pay homage to those 50’s Stepford wives girl groups, there’s much more to them than that.

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