The Hi-Fi - Fri Nov 20

Though bands have been touting the post-punk revival thing all decade long, New Zealand’s Cut Off Your Hands offer a fresh take on the familiar tuneful, herky-jerky sound. They sound lovelorn and just a little cheeky, and their set gets everyone in the place dancing. Midnight Juggernauts have spent the better part of the last year away from the spotlight, working hard on the follow-up to their successful Dystopia. Tonight’s show is the concert-going equivalent of welcoming an old friend back from a long overseas trip – hearing stories of their various adventures, and getting accustomed to all the ways that that they’ve changed. To be fair, Juggernauts haven’t changed a great deal – they’re still churning out danceable, synth-heavy indie pop, but it seems they’ve spent some time listening to ‘90s shoegaze records, as their sound has become more lush and droning, with songs bleeding into each-other. The stage is decked out with Chinese lanterns, the mood-lighting complimenting the dreamy atmosphere, as the band open with the familiar Ending Of An Era. Other songs from their debut, Shadows and Road To Recovery among them, come out early on, along with one or two new ones. I don’t know the names of any of these, and the band are no help – in taciturn mode, they barely say a word to the audience all night – but they’re spacey and feature danceable beats and swooning synths so it’s pretty much business as usual. The set actually starts out a little slow – the drums sometimes overwhelm the rest, and the vocals seem buried a little far back in the mix – but once live favourite Tombstone kicks in, with its sinister vocoder and sci-fi synths, things begin to move in the right direction. Into The Galaxy and recent single This New Technology round things off, and although things were a little touch-and-go early on, it’s great to have Midnight Juggernauts back.

ALASDAIR DUNCAN