When it comes to the US of A, Mystery Jets have been there and bought the shirt, literally.
Bassist Pete Cochrane was wearing a star spangled top as the Eel Pie outfit stepped onstage, an appropriate nod to the American flavour of their new album, Radlands.
The Stateside influence was certainly evident in the new material, notably in how The Ballad of Emmerson Lonestar took an enjoyable sojourn cross the Wild West, while a surprisingly grungy Lost In Austin rocked ferociously. That added noise suggested one benefit to having additional guitarist Matt Parks around, although some of his pedal steel work seemed a tad lost in the mix at points.
Misdirection occurred elsewhere, too, with Greatest Hits aping Stuck In The Middle With You rather too much, and old number Flakes performed in an yearning manner that didn't exactly flatter Blaine Harrison's voice.
Yet, the group's ability to whip up instantly catchy pop tunes remains, especially when William Rees's guitar work was spotlighted.
The best new offering was the Bee Gees disco strut of Hale Bop, an outrageously danceable number, before Flash A Hungry Smile, complete with whistling section, and the lazy indie-pop brilliance of Two Doors Down showcased how the band's older material can sit well alongside the fresher songs.
HHHH
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article