Black Dove Experiment
Bull & Gate, London
07/04/2011

It’s been nudging 20 degrees centigrade in London all day today – a fact that’s evidently escaped the doom-mongers of Black Dove Experiment, all of whom have pitched up at today’s gig dressed for a November ninja expedition. And in a musical world where string vests, espadrilles and pork-pie hats have become de rigeur for banjo-toting fiddle-twiddlers, there’s a certain sense of relief that comes from seeing a band who’ve seemingly arrived fresh from a funeral.

If the black attire and upturned collars aren’t enough of a hint at what’s to come, the opening bars of ‘This Town’s A Battleground’ are a surefire clue – it’s a thundering, strobe-lit entrance full of grumbling, sinister basslines and scattergun drums, singer Shane Devany cutting a dapper silhouette against the retina-searing flashbulbs; part Britpop swagger, part gloom-pop sulk. Veering between disco-beats and scratching, soaring guitars, there’s a less-than-subtle nod to The Cooper Temple Clause which, let’s be honest, is no slant on a band in a world cruelly left without the throaty drawls of Ben Gautrey and his gang.

There are times, perhaps – like the familiar Radiohead jigger of ‘Such Cruel Intentions’ – when influences aren’t so much worn on the sleeve as crudely tattooed into their forearms with a rusty compass and a pot of biro ink. But among the electronic grunge-tinged feedback that sees out tonight’s set, there’s a sense that while Black Dove Experiment aren’t doing anything new, what they’re doing is brutally honest, unflinchingly loud and, ultimately, fucking good. So button up those rainjackets and get ready for a summer of darkness.

Matt Glass