Tonight is a triple headed beast, headed up by former indie rockers turned Nine Inch Nails wannabes Wild Beasts. However, it falls to Ardyn to open this eclectic show, the brother and sister duo indulge tonight's early arrivals with a set of sickly sweet songs infused with a delicate synth pop edge. Their sound lacks originality and is quickly becoming the landfill 'indie' sound of choice. 

There is some emotion there but it fails to grab us as it is masked by their over reliance on their aesthetic. In many ways this is a case of style over substance, as they're merely pandering as to what is in vogue right now. The same cannot and will not be said for MONEY who following on from the release of their incredible second album Suicide Songs earlier in the year are still riding this wave of success.

Suicide Songs is one of the most powerful and emotive albums around and tonight its songs come alive once more, singer Jamie berating those ignorant enough to dare to talk through his powerful works. The passion and the power so telling in his delivery, these songs of excess and heartbreak draw you in. The odd glimpse of humour as he chastised those too careless to listen, really though this was the building of anger before his next outpouring of anguish. 

The likes of ‘I’m Not Here’ and ‘I’ll Be The Night’ bring the set to life but it is closing track ‘Cocaine Christmas And An Alcoholic New Year’, after numerous attempts to silence the naive he rises above them continuing in fine form an exceptional closing swan song. The cacophony of his band brings to an end what is only too short a set on this occasion, Wild Beasts are quick to follow though.

Where MONEY had passion and power, Wild Beasts put on a set of two distinct halves. The former being their old unique, intriguing and exciting selves and the latter a sub par rendition of Nine Inch Nails as we alluded to before. Their sinister themes are now masked by an overzealous mix of heavy beats and suppressed is Hayden's defining falsetto, all bands have to move on but Boy King feels like it may be a step too far.

I’m sure bands have been required to pay up for having songs sound less like one by a venerable act, even when employing the ostrich defence as favoured by a Mr. S. Smith. Then again Suicide Songs’ opener ‘I Am The Lord’s resemblance to The Beatles’ ‘Within You Without You’ maybe doesn’t quite tick enough boxes to require legal action. Either way it’s a languid start to the band’s second album, ably stating that it’s business as usual, albeit with a bit more orchestration thrown in than on debut The Sound Of Heaven.

Overall the same air of melancholia persists (& the cover art is certainly less uplifting than that of its predecessor) but the strings that pad out a few numbers lend a positive note to the proceedings. Whatever the obvious comparisons that could be made the first time around the band this time echo the sound that Verve, before the forced addition of a The, achieved on their pre-Britpop albums. This is particularly visible on the eight minute ‘Night Came’ although they don’t go down quite the same road in terms of thrashing guitars at the song’s peak. Nonetheless there’s a kinship.

Brass is a major feature of the album’s title track, which is much needed as it’s a song that doesn’t really do more than say what it is (“Your suicide song”). Which is the album’s biggest fault – at only nine songs in length you’ve less room in which to let a couple of duffers go unnoticed and you can’t escape the fact that this number basically wastes two minutes. Extended in a live setting it could well gain purpose anew but in its recorded form it does nothing.

The Sound Of Heaven was something a bit different when it came out but not something I’ve chosen to play for many months since. Suicide Songs is obviously less different as the band have carried on from where they left off, for the most part and, whilst that in itself isn’t a fault of any kind, I can well imagine not playing this album a great deal in the future either, despite the rousing penultimate tune ‘All My Life’ and the cracking title of closer ‘Cocaine Christmas And An Alcoholic’s New Year’.

Suicide Songs is available from amazon & iTunes.