What with Glasvegas set to unleash one of the best debuts of the 00’s and a whole host of ace new Scottish bands popping up such as Make Model and Attic Lights, Scotland’s sonic output is currently staggering.
But it takes a special band to halt the attentions of one John Leckie, the production mastermind behind countless, era-defining stone cold classics. Sergeant, though, are just that band. Returning on their Scottish tour following a whirlwind of Astoria megashows and Abbey Road sessions with the aforementioned genius, Sergeant are tonight greeted with a roar that suggests the obvious; the ‘Rothes four-piece aren’t so much treading the water for becoming Scotland’s biggest band this summer but launching themselves in at the deep end, striving.
And it’s easy to see why, unleashing a set adorned in sun-flecked jangle-pop purity, ‘Counting Down The Days’ is an anthem in waiting, whilst ‘Sunshine’ channels the spirit of Apple-era Beatles straight through to Lee Mavers’ finest hours, enough so to invoke a skyscraping stage-dive from one knowing punter. If most bands are busy documenting urban strife and social deprivation, Sergeant seem to be doing the opposite; their set brims with optimism and wide-eyed wonder.
‘Love It Here’ is poignantly dedicated to their hometown, ‘It All Comes Back To Me’ shows itself to be the kind of cranium-rattling pop monolith the La’s used to bash out so well and forthcoming single ‘K OK’ is as ace as ever, all laced in guitarist Scott Duncan’s chiming reverb sound previously favoured by the likes of John Squire (a sound picked up upon by Leckie previously, you know the rest).
After tonight’s performance, Sergeant definitely picked up a few more salutes.
