Tuesday 25/03/08 The Duke Spirit @ KOKO, London

The sight of Liela Moss’s cool Nordic looks against her broad London brogue is enough to turn any music fan’s head. Couple that with the classy aggression of The Duke Spirit’s sounds, and you’ve got a terrific band, punching their way through the airwaves. Although KOKO is far from sold out tonight, the audience is appreciative from the offset. Like a Pixies-Kills hybrid, their gravelly approach to music is lightened by Liela’s simplistic vocal style, which shines even more in the live arena.

It’s easy to get distracted by such a magnetic frontwoman, but don’t. With tracks that are unafraid to face their own catchiness, the dueling guitars that Matt and Luke provide lace together the tracks with surgical precision. Driven and confident, their live performance reverberates emphatically around KOKO. Yet at times you do feel that they have gigged so much that they are mechanical in their movements. This is not to say that they are bored and tired, merely that they know what they are doing to such an extent that passion is occasionally muted. It’s only their last track before the encore, ‘Love Is An Unfamiliar Name’ that descends into a mangled guitar adrenalin rush, which finally pushes the audience into capitulation.

Proving that they are not a one hit wonder, The Duke Spirit are a very real rock band. They have the tunes, the sound and the vocalist. ‘This Ship was Built to Last’ is a throbbing, rolling track with incredible guitar drive, whose impact is heightened by the live factor to such an extent that you wish they’d reworked the recording.

‘Cuts Across the Land’ finishes the encore, but feels a little rushed for such a powerful song. It doesn’t matter though, since Gigwise has a new girl crush, in the form of the Nico-esque Moss. Vibrant, loud, but with none of the arrogance and swagger of Kasabian and Oasis, through their own modesty The Duke Spirit give them a run for their money. Sexy and forceful without being smothering, there is such an air of perfection and professionalism that you would struggle not to skip onto the street album hunting.