"I just wanna say it's great to play to people who've actually come to see the band and not just drink," murmurs THE BELLES bespectacled frontman Chris Tolle, sounding genuinely moved. "You guys are great."
Aw, shucks, he's being far too kind. Sure, it's a typically attentive Lobby crowd in here tonight, but the merest exposure to The Belles is enough to send the discerning into quiet rapture and - after finding coveted places in our hearts for the warm, but intrinsically melancholic tunes comprising their debut album "Omerta" over the past few months - the opportunity to be up close and ringside with the Kansas boys in a small venue has been near the top of W&H's wishlist in recent times.
The reality is every bit as good as the expectation, too. Not that The Belles are showmen or anything (they basically get up there, sway a bit and live with their songs) but there's something world-weary and wise-beyond-years about Chris Tolle's songs and something gloriously understated about the band's delivery that ensures their songs go way beyond the sum of the parts.
Although they kick off with a robust version of "(Who Will Be Here) To Hear?", the "Omerta" album (actually recorded over two years back) is by now rather old news to Tolle, drummer Jake Cardwell and touring bassist Brian Everard, so anyone assuming they'll get a run-through of the debut may be slightly disappointed.
Indeed, only a joyous crash through the (almost) perky "Never Said Anything" and "Left Arm Tan" from the first EP are the only other well-worn songs they wheel out as tonight's set unfolds. Both are great: "Never Said..." finds Cardwell triggering a few subtle samples and Everard tinkering with a tiny keyboard, while "Left Arm Tan" (sample lyric: "I wanna stick my arm out the window and drive") is surely the only song of quality - other than The Pretenders' "Brass In Pocket" - to take the art of detroit leaning as its' subject.
No matter, though, as most of the band's new material suggests even greater things are stirring in The Belles' collective loins. In places, the new tunes rock harder than expected, not least where "Star Motel" and "Time Flies When You're Going Out Of Your Mind" are concerned. "Star Witness" meanwhile, is not a million miles from Big Star circa "Radio City", and is built around Tolle's chromatic riffing and a strutting middle eight.
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Visibly, The Belles are surprisingly engaging in their own quiet way, too. Chris looks slightly vulnerable behind his chunky semi-acoustic, while Brian adds some solid, professional cool and drummer Jake is endearingly eccentric, playing a variety of curious percussion intruments (including something that looks like a mutation of an orange and a banana) as well as an array of sticks and beaters. It's a fine display and the way he keeps time bashing his jeans when he's not playing his kit is brilliantly hypnotic.
Of course touring at a relatively lowly level has its' drawbacks and when Chris snaps a string at one point, Brian and Jake are forced to depart and restring it, while Chris borrows a guitar and serenades us with the frail beauty of "Disarmed" and "Ghost", which he tells us is about the spirits in his haunted attic. The song itself possesses a quiet magic and suggests the last thing Chris should do is organise an exorcism.
Jake and Brian return for a final blast of tunes, finally winding down with the strange, experimental psychedelic mantra-folk of "What We Are", which is a dislocated cousin of Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and ends with Tolle's amp overheating, Everard revelling in the hypnotic bass pattern he repeats to glory and Cardwell wrestling his floor tom to the ground like it's a bear about to strike. It's quite a finale and while there's no encore, it would be difficult to top that anyway.
Twisting folk, Alt.country, power pop and the occasional foray into the digital world into irresistible new shapes, The Belles' gentle introversion and melancholic edge ensures their music is anything but a quick fix. They are one of the very best new American bands out there and I would seriously suggest you sign up for the ride with them.
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