Launching their third album, Volcano, in a city which in its day had one or two of the things, The Last September took to the stage to the strains of 'Man With A Harmonica' from Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West. After a year in the making they're clearly pleased to have the work finished and available and to be able to present it to the assembled throng.

Live the album brings a rather uneven line to the set as 'Hold Me Down' is quite a downbeat song to move on to after the faster paced 'Half Shut Knife' and this issue, despite the quality of the material, is one which allows a restlessness to creep into the audience as time goes on. Greater use of keyboards, at the expense of the favoured accordion, and a dose of better between-song-banter would help in a more general sense.

The band's collaboration from the new album with poet Rachel McCrum, 'Climbing', provides the gig with a refreshingly different (indeed unexpected) few minutes as she intones her spoken words and the quintet just provide the backing track. Rounding off the main set with current single and album highlight 'This Train Remains' they receive a lengthy and heartfelt applause before people start to wonder if an encore is possible, the band not really having had anywhere out of sight to place themselves. Older tracks 'Pond' and 'Ventolin' (with it's U2 & Bowie references) are offered up and they can finally head off to the bar & to take the welcome plaudits from friends & family.  

Volcano is available from the group's bandcamp.

Right from the off the Velvet Underground influences noticed when Ultimate Painting supported Parquet Courts earlier in the year are firmly to the fore on their debut album: the title track's awash with them. As is 'Talking Blues'. Thankfully the rest of the album is far less derivative (although it should also be pointed out that the aforementioned tracks aren't weak in any sense).

The band's own voice is particularly strong on the likes of the sparse 'Riverside' and the mild melancholy of 'Rolling In The Deep'. Given the pedigree of the players involved in the project this is hardly surprising and, whilst the album never gains the heights of the more raucous moments which were on display at that gig back in May, the song's are generally mature and work together well as a whole package.

Whether the intervening months have found the band deliberately reining back their more rock star urges to refine the recorded versions of their compositions or the live sphere is a place where they make the effort to toy with the sonic possibilities of otherwise restrained material is unknown but the likes of 'Jane' certainly hold within them the potential to be cranked up and belted out on stage.

As experiments with your mates go then this, much like The Last Shadow Puppets outing, is a well crafted and repeatedly enjoyable listen that has evident appeal to fans of melodic guitar pop far beyond the bounds of the guys' other work in Mazes & Veronica Falls. 

Ultimate Painting is released on October 27 and available from amazon & iTunes.