Twin Atlantic, RockNess 2010

A surprisingly small crowd have turned up for Twin Atlantic’s Sunday afternoon appearance, perhaps suggesting that they’re better suited down the road at Download rather than playing to this dance music-loving, glowstick-toting group. Or maybe the torrent of rain that’s currently swarming upon the banks of Loch Ness has simply encouraged most to pop round the Clash tent to get cheered up and dried off by comedian Kevin Bridges.

With their overhead banner being shoved about by the violent wind, Twin Atlantic bravely take to the stage and begin the first driving notes of ‘Human After All’, sending the dedicated front rows into a frenzy. Previous single ‘Lightspeed’ is made for a live setting: its chorus is loud, its lyrics a little bit cheesy but mostly pretty uplifting.

A rather angry-sounding slice of encouragement from singer Sam McTrusty (“is that all you’ve got, RockNess?”) sees all initial reservations being cast aside as “What Is Light? Where Is Laughter?” gets under way. One of only two songs played from strongest release to date “A Guidance From Colour”, it’s a moment to cherish as the band play every anthemic note with passion and McTrusty does enough hair-flipping to make every Hunter welly-wearing girl swoon.

The set, though, is ultimately and disappointingly marred by poor sound: oddly, the band sounds better atop a hill that overlooks the main stage rather than up close and personal. Then again, when you’ve got a closing song like the fiesty, stopping-and-starting ‘Audience And Audio’ to jump around to, who really cares?