With this show being a release party for the new She’s In Parties track, Angelic , the band have decided to decorate the venue to match. Foliage and flowers hang from the rafters and adorn the mic stands, and visuals flicker on the projector. There’s a good turn out early to watch the relatively new band but first we’ve got a couple of openers to check out.

First up is Walking Through Walls who, I’m going to be honest, weren’t having the best performance. Their set was a mix of live and programmed elements but the near fluid progression from one song to another doesn’t allow time to tune the live instruments and, quite quickly, the set starts to sound like a clash of keys as guitars started to drift. It was fairly atonal in places but not in a pleasing way. It’s a shame because there were plenty of interesting elements in there that, if performed tighter and in tune, could have been great. I enjoyed the unexpected use of auto tune as an instrument later in the set and some of the shoegazey parts early on (before the tuning started to go out) sounded great. I think if they factored in time to get live instruments sounding right they’d have been a much more enjoyable experience. Hopefully next time I see them it’s a bit more together – I have faith!

Floral Image come across as seasoned performers from the get go; even the vocal noises into the reverb effect as they get going sound good. I’ll admit they’re not a style of music I generally enjoy listening to but, as a live band, Floral Image are great – the songs are well written and are performed in such a way that it almost feels like they could break into a jam at any moment. The penultimate song in particular has a fascinating middle section, a great part to an excellent track. A good fit on this bill and they seem to have gone down brilliantly.

Finally it’s the time for the band of the moment, She’s In Parties. They’ve had a lineup change since I first saw them (on a computer monitor over at Black Cactus as was the fashion at the time) but they’ve still got the big ethereal sound that impressed me on first listen. Songs sort of float off stage, really pleasant to listen to. Showcasing new material they show themselves to be another local band who are creating music that’s both interesting and detailed. They somehow simultaneously sound both like a band who’ve travelled from decades ago and something fresh.

Watching She’s In Parties at this point just feels like you’re watching a band that’ll be huge in the future. You know that thing people say “remember that [whatever massive band you’re a fan of] started out playing small local venues”? This is one of those. They’re a band who’ve worked out how to perform their songs well live and nailed the songwriting. Go and see them next time they’re playing in town.