Honeyblood Headline Second Neu ‘Hello 2014’ Show

Completely packed out before the first band even arrive on stage, The Old Blue Last is a steaming, sweltering hot bed for the second night of Hello 2014. Four brilliant bands (some with singles out, others with barely a gig to their name) turn up, with members of Childhood, Only Real and The Maccabees all in attendance to boot from the very off. LSA’s debut track channels The Walkmen on record, and while Americana circuits their set, they showcase several more chops in tow.

Recounting Hacienda-era headiness in a rampant, all-energised routine, they sound ridiculously assured. Like, arena ready assured. Slot them onto a big deal tour and they’d play the role of converters to thousands. ‘No Good Man’, just a day old, recounts summer nights in some sky-reaching ode to Kings of Leon. Festival line-ups will be chomping at the bit to sign these guys up.

Sun Machine follow, playing just their fifth show to date. They’ve plenty up their sleeve, too. Debut track ‘Have You Seen It, It’s Alive’ practically beckons crowds into the venue, both through title and device. The set opens with a wall of space crazed, reverb heavy vocals. There’s a thick fog applied throughout, but it’s done so in a supreme, smart form. Nothing’s overdone. Vocals might be hushed, guitars slathered in effects, but in pauses, refrains and fine application they find their mode. It’s like watching Blur having a ride on the fairground at times, with ’90s influences basking in summertime escape. Clever - completely aware of it - but completely immediate from the get go. One thing’s a constant: Each song is cooked up in psych, dripping with ’60s influences until it’s practically bathing in flowers.

Sundara Karma are pretty much a combination of the two bands preceded. They sport psych influences - sending them through a tropical vortex - and load every song with hooks, cooing ‘oohs’ and stirring falsetto. Great jumpers, too. It’s quickly clear that their initial rep as promising students based out in Reading seems a touch unfair, and that they’re actually worth way more than lax statements about age. Like LSA, they’ve a festival status practically tattooed onto their chest. With a Swim Deep tour already under their belt, they’ve not much to worry about in terms of landing in headier heights.

Honeyblood are a completely different entity altogether. Their FatCat signed debut I’d just around the corner, this gig pretty much heads up what’s set to be an extraordinarily busy 2014. Their album’s been recorded with Peter Katis, which in layman’s terms equates to a record that gives force to the fullest. Recent single ‘Bud’ matches this to a t, with flipside ‘Kissing On You’ going one step further, energy and frustration defined. Live, it’s ‘Biro’ that stands out, getting by on a bittersweet refrain ‘All the pain you’ve been through / will be the making of you.’ When this debut eventually arrives, it could be one of the most dynamic, all-invested first works of the year.