Joy Zipper

Expecting to be lulled gently to sleep by romantic, lovelorn lyrics and woozy acoustica in the short, pre-club set, I hadn't prepared myself for the curious mix of a stage draped in twinkly fairy lights (heartlights?) and the opening barrage of Go Tell The World's drumroll.

The drummer, in a cloth cap yet without a greyhound to match, put paid to notions of laid-back, coupley whimsy as he anchored a five-piece band with the song's startling opening sequence. Attention was grabbed and audience hooked, at least momentarily, but the set would never again quite achieve the vivacity of its opening.

It wasn't whimsical, but nor was it a rock-out. Cafiso let rip with electric guitar histrionics, for sure, but his display was suitably muted and far from dramatic. Acoustic guitar surfaced too, with a second guitarist taking over electric duties. As Tindale stuck to a neat keyboard to her hubby's right for the entire set, leaving him with ample space in which to demonstrate his axe abilities, I found my attention wandering.

The slower tracks, like Holy Diver, on which husband and wife both sing, suggest the influence of early Mojave 3, with vocal harmonies aplenty. Yet there's none of that band's free-floating, atmospheric loveliness. Instead we have solid, adequate tunes tightly tied together. The best of this batch by some way was 2 Dreams I Had, with Tindale on lead vocals. Her voice reminded of Kristin Hersh, but the song structures were some way short of the former Throwing Muses star's inventiveness.

Cafiso's vocals were soupier than his partner's, his words less easily identifiable. The audience didn't seem completely with them yet either - The Heartlight Set perhaps needs a few more plays before singalongs can be guaranteed.

In a set of under an hour, what we had was essentially an album showcase, capably if unspectacularly presented.

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