Brit quintet Gomez has never been a band to sound like any other band whatsoever.  After winning the Mercury Music Prize back in the latter years of last century, Gomez have become a cult indie-rock band, and deservedly so.

Ever-effectively they fuse jazz, blues, country and soul music with the most poignant and tender elements of indie-rock and melodic pop genres and jubilantly live to sing their tales. The resultant sounds are exquisite.

Literally fronted by three of the five band members, the front-line singers and guitarists Ian Ball, Tom Gray and Ben Ottewell, take it in turns to sing lead vocals on their tunes.  All three have contrasting voices which bodes well in making many of their songs sound wildly different from each other.

Lanky Ben (who stands stage centre) possesses a spine-chillingly soulful voice while the bespectacled and long-haired charmer in Tom to his left (and our right) has a far smoother, Hawksley Workman-like voice, singing lead vocals on the first single to be lifted from their new album, the crazily catchy 'Catch Me Up' that just will not leave your head once it's lodged in there.

Two other new songs that stand out in their staggeringly euphoric 90 minute set included 'These 3 Sins' and 'Silence,' allowing the remainder of the set to be packed with all their old favourites and one or three more obscure tunes.

'Get Myself Arrested' (an anthem off their classic Bring It On debut album) goes down a storm, like the bizarrely catchy 'Whippin' Piccadilly' – one of the band's first songs to really break through and set tongues frantically wagging about Gomez's super-talents.

In stark reality and through no delusion of my own making, Gomez might just be the greatest British band ever to exist.  Bring forth the new album.
(4/5)

Check for Live Dates