So everyone is expecting big things. The range of people is wide, the record store kids have crawled out for a rare evening, the hipsters are down front, other musicians are nestled amongst the rare dash of students and as I said earlier, the photographers and reviewers are out to play. But there is something worth noting about Before Today ahead of talking about this gig – this record, is a music fans record. It jumps around and with skill the record dips, twists and turns and has invented something entirely new in pop music. But it is technical and the thing is that this won’t, and doesn’t, always hang together quite as well as you would hope when they are playing live. This is made worse perhaps be the odd scenester attempting to dance along to the many grooves they put out and then melting their moves slickly away as the band have launched into an entirely new time signature. But then no one really cares about the hip kids looking a bit awkward occasionally because it’s clear the band can write some seriously catchy pockets of music that you wish would last, just a little, longer and leave you wondering how many songs you can fairly squeeze into one. Every song has movements and this is indie pop for listening listening. Not just hearing.

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti

A fine attribute to the band has to be the slap twang base brought out as even fatter when coupled up along a tickling and tinkling keyboard that runs through the tracks. An even finer attribute is Ariel Pink himself. He’s a front man who can howl, and whisper throughout a song. His slight figure teeters on the edge of the stage, twirling is long bushy black hair. Through out the set he embodies the best of rock. He can swagger like Mick Jagger, be intergalactic like David Bowie and show off as much as Iggy Pop, all whilst twirling his hair.

Despite the exhaustive-ness of the tracks, they climb the guitar riffs led by contrast by monotone vocals, which at times disperse into 4 part harmonies and then break off into ethereal otherworldly lines time after time and could not get boring.