大象传媒

Last week, on a typically cold December night, Belfast was graced with the presence of the critically acclaimed, soul ensnaring indie band, The XX. The trio's self titled debut album, released back in August, has received almost universal praise from reviewers for its bewitching, laid back tracks.

Thankfully, on stage in the Speakeasy, the group proved they could be just as beguiling live as on their debut record, offering up more of the same black magic to the captivated audience.

Support came from Nakatomi Towers - a spangly electro pop duo hailing from Belfast who have nicked their name from the first Die Hard film. It's been less than a year since the band, made up of Dave Freknall and Julianne Shawe, first formed but already they have written a series of catchy tunes that were showcased to good effect on stage. Julianne handled most of the vocal duties with her strong indie-chick voice, but Dave also chimed in at times and both strummed their guitars along enthusiastically to prerecorded electro backing.

In between tracks Nakatomi Towers occasionally looked like two close friends who had accidentally wandered on to the stage carrying instruments. However, they were certainly likeable and once they got into each song 听it was clear they were up there for a reason. And being early in the band's life, they've got plenty of time left to polish things up.

The XX were a more accomplished stage presence but generally went for minimal audience interaction, something which in a strange way suited their stripped back music. Bass guitarist and vocalist Oliver Sim did take some time to speak with the huge crowd packed into the venue, even flashing a few wide smiles, but the other band members remained tight lipped throughout.

Live, The XX managed to make their music sound almost otherworldly, with both Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver singing the poetic lyrics well. The audience loved every track that was offered up to them, reacting particularly loudly to the group's most recent single, Islands. At times the band's tunes even seemed to be echoing off the very walls due to excellent work by master of beats Jamie Smith.

For their last song, The XX performed "Night Time", building up to a stomping finale where Oliver joined Jamie on drums duty. Afterwards, the still enthralled audience hung around, waiting for an encore but were left disappointed. Clearly, Belfast would like to see more of The XX in future.

Robyn Scott