Playlouder - Music is the Network

If five Swedish schoolgirls were the main attraction onstage over the way in a subterranean Soho bar you’d imagine a full house would be inevitable, but tonight, just up the road in Oxford Street’s 100 Club, it’s about half full, or half empty – depending on your perspective.

As one of the Hot New Bands of the year I’d been waiting for an opportunity to catch the band live and see if they could live up to the mini-hysteria of their impressive, though by no means perfect, eponymous EP: Those Dancing Days. And this gig almost snuck past my radar, so perhaps it was supposed to be a relatively low-key affair.

My chief concern was that they’d be onstage for all of about twenty minutes before they ran out of songs.

Fortunately, time wasn’t an issue, as I was far too busy dancing to count the songs on the set list. The live expression of their northern soul-tinged pop is pitch perfect and infused with enthusiasm. Between notes the girls exchange smiles at first tentative and later exhausted but ecstatic.

They look amazing, of course; five young, pretty, stylish Swedes makes for a band everyone either wants to be in, or wants to follow around the country in an inconspicuous car with a newspaper and a pair of mirrored sunglasses.

And the good news is that there’s already a full set’s worth of delightfully danceable numbers that prove Those Dancing Days are likely to be much more than a flash in the pan.

Although Lenea’s vocals sounded a little muffled and distorted – presumably due to a bit of a dodgy mic or the sound setup – the melodies and rhythms were bubbly throughout, and Cissi’s drumming was, at times, incredible.

I’m glad I caught them when I did, as I imagine it’ll be hard work getting to the front of the stage at a Those Dancing Days gig in the future.