Championed by John Peel. You might remember them. Even by the great man's standards, they sounded special. They're from Albuquerque, New Mexico, the band consisting primarily of percussionist Jeremy Barnes (ex-Neutral Milk Hotel, now mainly on accordeon) and gorgeous violinist Heather Trost. Five albums and seven years into their career, they have changed somewhat. The 'experimental' side has taken backstage, mainly for some (Hungarian and Klezmer-type) folk. There was, however, some room in their set for Heather to play a violin/trumpet/theremin combination (for the wonderful "Vasalisa carries a flaming skull through the forest"). The outfit now also sports a trumpet, a mandolin and a clarinet, played by two nerdy-looking blokes.

They're so much better than, say, Beirut or the like.

Played for about 90 minutes, no vocals except for the very first song, where Jeremy moaned something about there being no hunting season this year. Spoke to Heather and Jeremy after the show. She's even more beautiful than the pictures would suggest. And very friendly.

Absolutely fantastic.

10/10 :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: