Howling Bells

I had a dream, it involved woods in spring. Five in the morning, the fire fading. So many toxins rushing through my bloodstream that I can see fireflies that look like those tiny ships from Batteries Not Included. Beside me, noisily sleeping, is a wonder of creation, her eyelids resting together and her lips ready to whisper the finer details of her dreams of the sea. Is this love? This is love...

It takes just moments to realise swirling Aussies Howling Bells could take you on an adventure anywhere and make everything feel like it's slowly rising on a hovering merry-go-round. When they lure you back to biblical times in 'Blessed Night' you're looking down from a spaceship. They pull you on a kiddie trailer around twilit suburbs more familiar to the X-files than Coventry. Throughout tonight’s blissed out, hour-long set, there's hints at something sinister, yet as soon as the teasing reaches a peak, the danger fades in a mist of elongated guitar tones.

It's not until the refrain of 'Broken Bones' that it's kick-in-the-gut clear there's something more to Howling Bells than any of the recent rock revivalist outfits from down-under. This band could have fallen from anywhere. The twang of American rock history does hiss and pop like a burnt out truck, but atop of it all is something otherworldly. Every time a riff should rush it crawls like Interpol. Every time an "OH YEAH" should be repetively thrown in, for dumb rhymeless rhythm, there's a breathy restraint cooing at you from a palace in Atlantis.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have nothing on this grace. PJ Harvey comparisons are lazy and slightly caught up in sexism. Sure, a beautiful siren can take your gasp with her purr before she reaches the first chorus, easier than any sweaty boy. Add to that Juanita who, dressed like she's just stepped from the pages of a magazine, isn't ugly either (nor are the boys on guitar either side, who could be in The Stills) and her seductive, drawn out, almost staccato phrasing is undeniably sensual. But this isn't much about style-over-substance nor gender; it's about humans making something beautiful.

Howling Bells' live show is too flawless for stages like this. It feels distractingly confined in the space, ready to erupt and burn itself onto much, much bigger and more grandiose stages. There's a real sense in the room tonight that this band, these songs, really aren't meant to stay down here for the likes of us.