Windsor for the Derby are a four piece from Texas, three guitars, 2 guys singing and a drummer. I've always loved the sound of 3 guitars playing together, not in a wanky Billie Mahonie style but in an understated heart-string pulling kinda way.

The venue should be a perfect setting for the band, intimate and confined, however during the first song things do not go well for the band. Obviously tired after travelling all the way from Belgium earlier in the day the band are far from happy, when in the middle of the first song the venues owner decides they are playing too loud. For most of the crowd this seems like complete bullshit, how can softly sung vocals and the sound of 3 clean electric guitars possibly be too loud? For a few minutes it looks as though the band are just going to pack up and leave, thankfully they persevere and we're treated to 'a quieter set'.

It's beautiful. When there are vocals present they are softly sung and dripping in emotion, kinda Bonnie-Prince Billy / Papa M-esqe but set to a beautiful backdrop of testing guitar melodies all pulling in different directions and yet meshing together to build up into a gorgeous gel of sound. Individually each guitarists plays in a minimal and stripped down style usually with one picking, one strumming via a delay pedal (the best invention since the electric guitar) and the third acting the part of bass guitar producing simple bass-lines somewhat reminiscent of the high-end bass style of Peter Hook. Coupled with simple, pounding drum beats, the Joy Division comparisons again resurface, however unlike the rip-off merchants that are Interpol et al the comparison is only fleeting but does the trick.

Windsor are an amazing band, building up intense melodies and hooks through repetitive guitar lines then introducing new beautiful riffs that interweave their way through your heart and soul. Like Godspeed! they don't have to rely on hitting a distortion pedal to take a song to that next level, they can be intense without hammering the listener into submission with a wall of screaming guitars, believe me this is a difficult skill to achieve. For the first time in ages I witnessed a band that made me want to rush home and pick up my guitar again (which I duly did!).

Anyway enough of my ramblings, you should get down to their gigs this week and witness them for yourselves, they play The Social in Nottingham on the 7th January and at the Arts Cafe in London on the 8th January and their fourth album 'The Emotional Rescue LP' is out now on Aesthetics records!