Voxtrot, the bloggers’ band of choice, used to sell out New York clubs before they’d even released a record proper, thanks largely to being championed by the likes of Brooklyn Vegan and Central Village. Bandleader Ramesh Srivastava, though, is now going for some more traditional exposure: a support slot. After The Coral pulled out of the Arctic Monkeys US Tour, Srivastava was happy for Voxtrot to stand in despite the inconvenience caused by the indie quintet having to cancel their own European and West Coast dates.

The logic behind this is obviously to introduce Voxtrot’s music to a wider audience. The timing also sits so well with the release of the band’s self-titled debut album. Which on the evidence of 11 Brit-Pop-flecked tracks, although the band are based in Austin, Texas, Srivastava spent some time studying in Scotland, and it shows, will further broaden their appeal.
 

From the theatrical, centre-of-left, almost Billy-Joelesque ‘Steven’ to the leaner, meaner Editors-meet-The-Decemberists ‘Brother in Conflict’ with lyrics including “I wanna, wanna drown you in a pool of blood”, Voxtrot unleashes a band at the top of its game. It also reveals Srivastava to be a prolific songwriter as none of these tracks appeared on the group’s three previous EPs. Expect Voxtrot then to be headlining again sooner rather than later.

(4/5)