young knives and the immediate in brighton

I think I've probably written enough about the Young Knives recently, but I saw 'em live again last week and they deserve another brief mention, because it was a very different set. It goes without saying that they were terrific, but a few bullet points for things I didn't cover the last time I raved about them....

- After the crowd-pleasing, punk rock set at the Great Escape a few weeks ago, it's good to see the Knives offering up a more varied and balanced set tonight; it's not until around half an hour in that we start hearing anything that's already been released officially - yet the first bunch of songs; 'Part Timer', 'Dialing Darling' and 'Current of the River' all sound super; raw, aggressive and tight.
- And when they do get to the hits... 'Rumour Mill', 'The Decision', 'Weekends and Bleakdays' and 'She's Attracted To' are all blistering tonight.
- The songs they leave out! A stunning set tonight and yet no 'Kitchener', 'Coastguard', 'Another Hollow Line', 'Kramer' or 'Trembling of Trails'. They kept back enough for another set, practically.
- And super to hear them branching out from the super-enthusiastic, aggressive sounds of the singles, too - the best tracks tonight are arguably the beautifully titled 'Loughborough Suicide' and the delightful 'Elaine', which see them wielding pretty melodies and sweet harmonies to great effect. Any fears that the impending debut album might sound samey are fast abating.
- Wow, what a great band they are.

There, I kept that quite concise.

A few words about the support band, then. The Immediate were really impressive tonight, one of those unknown support acts that leave you gaping and grinning and musing on all that is brilliant about pop music. Four young, precociously talented and soft-spoken men from Dublin, The Immediate laid on an inordinately varied and vital set, swinging about musically and swapping instruments and evoking about a dozen great bands in the process, they reminded me most of a slinky, song-led version of !!!, all processed guitars and shape-shifting drumbeats. Then they sound like Radiohead and New Order and some lost 60s psych dudes and, well, they are a band that kind of scarily do their own thing and make it hard to find comparisons. The best I managed, watching the drummer take lead vocals for a track and climb the barriers into the crowd, crooning and pointing, was a kind of 2006 iteration of Orange Juice with four Edwyn Collinses. They were great, seek 'em out before they're huge.