Being a London lass, I tend to get my usual gig fix up town. Occasionally there are bands that make you want to go that extra mile. Electrelane are one of those bands. Up until their third album, I'd never so much as heard a squeak from the femme-foursome. But having listened to the superb Axes, I was eager to hop on a train to their hometown in Brighton to see if their ingenuity was for real.

Supporting them tonight is Scout Niblett. Aside from the fact her name sounds like a southern fried dish inspired by To Kill A Mockingbird, here is a discerning young woman with a guitar who displays a wild passion on stage. With a heart-rending voice that harks back to the days of Belly and Juliana Hatfield, she captivates her audience with melancholic tunes and grunge power chords. It gets most enjoyable when she sings, "We're all going to die!" while playing tempestuous drums, as there is something quite sardonic to her morbidity.

When Electrelane are on there is a mad rush of drunken raucous women to the front who aggressively knock into each other. Although it gets slightly irritating, as they're the only ones leaping about in the crowd and there are only so many times you can tolerate someone treading on your toe without wanting to stab them with your pen, their excitement is understandable. The charge of experimental noise blasting out tonight is awesome.

Androgynous drummer Emma Gaze is compelling as she taps out a style not dissimilar to Joy Division’s Stephen Morris. When the rest of her counterparts gather round her, they reach heated intensity on tracks like 'Two For Joy' and 'Suitcase'. Front lady Verity Susman is also on top form during this evening's festivities with her vocal instrumentation on 'Bells' and intoxicating keyboard sprinkles on 'If Not Now, When?'

The intentional blackout of lights during 'Gone Darker', with its rhythmic chugging and seedy toot of a saxophone, makes you feel like you're down the shaft of a tunnel and are about to be faced with a huge mother of an express train that ain't stopping for no-one. It's speed at its best. And their erratic version of Leonard Cohen's 'The Partisan' is a sublime, edgy punk offering.

When the set ends with Mia Clarke letting her guitar rip with some unique effects and freaky feedback as she towers over her amp, many are left lost for words. But then few can ever really put the extraordinary Electrelane into plain text.

Photo by Mark Milan