Roadhouse, Manchester - 28/02/08

EVEN the briefest of glances around our drizzly city today is all you need to see that the industrial grey surroundings that inspired such miserablist-luminaries as The Fall and Joy Division are long gone.

And yet, despite million-pound apartments erecting all over, the rich vain of brooding, guitar-wielding boys and girls has yet to dry up.

Down in a venue that has played host to many of those tonight welcomes familiar local four-piece The Nightjars, fresh off the back of debut mini-album 'Towards Light'- which picked up favourable reviews from most that heard its Sonic Youth affected, bristling pop tunes.

Unsurprisingly, having spent the past two years stomping out tracks such as 'You Set Me Reeling', 'Set Them Up', and the euphoric rush of (the appropriately titled) 'MDMA' are now taut and fierce live numbers.

Onlookers

Old favourites are savoured by onlookers and regulars, but most tonight are curious to hear how new material is shaping up so far for their over-due long player, whilst not as immediate or corrosive as past glories, the amped atmospherics and ominous word play at work throughout could yet prove to have a slow burning effect.

Having shaped into a formidable live act over the past couple of years - including an early gig spent as Damo Suzuki's (of Can fame) backing noise makers alongside members of Polytechnic - surely it's time the rest of the country began to take notice too.

Manchester Evening News - 4 / 5

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