Klaxons, Heaven, London

To those of you who have packed away your dayglodies, fluorescent face paint and glowsticks in the mindset that Klaxons’ debut sound was merely a passing fad, I suggest you prise them out of their bubblewrap and get raving. Because Klaxons are back, with a new album and a new live band member; Anthony Rossomoando from Dirty Pretty Things, no less.

Having waited until their live appearance at Heaven to give their new material a listen, I wait in nervous anticipation as the five-piece take to the stage. With bitten-down fingernails and a nervy twitch in my right leg, I inhale an almighty breath as Jamie Reynolds strikes the first guitar chord, exclaiming that it’s “great to be back in London”. Thankfully, for the sake of my limbs and cuticles (if nothing else), Reynolds and Co haven’t done an MGMT by astronomically changing their sound, thus alienating a large portion of their fanbase. Although their music has altered from their vastly successful, Mercury award-winning debut, it has evolved rather than spiralled into the realms of obscurity.

Tracks such as ‘Echoes’, ‘Cypherspeed’ and ‘Extra Astronomical’ demonstrate their affinity and ease of producing progressive rock and space-age folk sounds, with little that says they’ve forced themselves into those boxes. But, what is more apparent, is that the band have retained their sense of humour, with their LOL cats-inspired album cover plastered over Heaven’s shabby brick interior. Reynolds even stops halfway through the set to ask us if we like the cat. As if he even has to ask. Who wouldn’t omit a chuckle when confronted with a confused-looking cat in an orange spacesuit?

As the set closes with an encore of ‘Atlantis to Interzone’, it’s clear that the band’s old material resonates more strongly with the crowd than that of their new. Which is understandable; it’s dancey, ravy goodness that meant a whole lotta people have a whole lotta dayglo in their wardrobes. But ‘Surfing The Void’ offers the dancey with a depth that didn’t seem quite present in their debut. This is the sound of a band who have grown up and branched out.