Guards
Madame JoJo’s, London
15/02/2011
  
Effectively a warm up, the first of Guards’ three London shows this week is as part of a White Heat club night, and as such breaks them in gently with an indifferent audience primarily at the venue for, well, because it’s a club night in Soho. Undeterred, Guards set about their work, recognising the value of the show with a Lexington sellout followed by an NME Awards show over the next three days. No doubt they also recognise the value of their offering, knowing that the passive audience will soon be drawn in, almost in their subconscious – and that’s exactly what takes place over their 40-minute set.

With euphoric indie-pop surfing a wave on the back of Arcade Fire’s worldwide mega-success, the door is open for the likes of Guards - though in reality they straddle the thin line between that and power-pop, and they do so quite wonderfully. Sonically they’re immaculate, with three guitars adding welly to Richie Follin’s soaring vocals and providing a super-tight foundation for Guards’ irresistibly uplifting melodies. The set is half-filled by material from the recent eponymous EP, the centrepiece unquestionably being opening track ‘Resolution of One’ (which drops just past the midpoint tonight) – a tune which truly stands toe-to-toe with any indie-pop anthem you can name from the last five years at least.

Flipside is that, such is the absolute majesty of ‘Resolution of One’, Guards’ other tunes feel inferior – and they are, but only by default, for it’s far from their only stellar tune, and their dalliances with mediocrity are only fleeting tonight – gaining and retaining attention for the entirety. After this show, we’ll undoubtedly be hearing a lot more from Guards.
 
Andy Slocombe