大象传媒

It's a busy night for gigs in Belfast, as it always seems to be these days, such is the strength of the local scene. Still, it's always good to expand your musical horizons and listen to the world, in this case, that distant and far-flung place, Scotland.

Before we get to the foreigners, it's a local delicacy, as Kowalski make the short trip from Bangor to the big smoke. It's potentially a hard sell for them, a reasonably early start and seats everywhere, meaning that they'll have to work to impress the crowd. They quickly turn that to their advantage, revelling in the intimacy of candle light, and it feels almost like watching a performance video. They've been accused, by myself it has to be said, in the past of being relatively fluffy, producing candy-floss festival happiness, but the strange setting seems to give a quiet power to their hitherto frothy material a la Doves or Elbow as the subtlety and nuances come through. Yes they still have that summery indie-dance-pop vibe like MGMT, but there is a solid core to their expansiveness, particularly new single 'Take Care' and closing number 'Get Back To The Place'. Whodathunkit? A critic changing his mind...

Errors, in comparison, have trekked over land and sea for us, and are weary for this is the last night of their tour, possibly with delusion setting in. Someone in the crowd suggesting that their drummer looks like Chris Martin hints that the people with problems may not all be on stage. Either that or the hypnotic quality of the music has had the unfortunate side effect of making people see members of Coldplay. As for Errors, they're just slightly different from the much berated bland-dispensers. It's droney and dancey, like F**k Buttons gone indie with a bit of French/Belgian house, or like high-art concept music of Battles or Go! Team with a filmic epic sweep to it. Switching to a more futuristic sound for 'Beards', it echoes early Chemical Brothers as layers of instrumental loops combine with a deliciously organic feel to it, like Aphex Twin leading Foals astray in the woods. As they're enjoying it so much they stick in a little extra number for us as well, which necessitates 5 minutes of guitar tuning resulting in the aforementioned surreal celebrity spotting, and it's well worth it.

William Johnston