Walls / Circle Traps @ The Lanes, Bristol 25.05.12

Walls – hotly hyped following a fantastic second album on Kompakt last year – are the main draw, but strangely the crowd thins out for the headline act. A duo comprised of the bloke otherwise known as Banjo or Freakout (Alessio Natalizia) and one half of Allez Allez (Sam Willis), their album is a weighty but ambient affair, sounding not dissimilar to The Field’s Looping State of Mind (also on Kompakt last year). But live, their sound is much more muscular – with Willis leaping between bass guitar and a bank of samplers and FX units, and both Walls members providing muffled, ethereal vocals.

It’s a beautiful racket. At times as pounding as a heavier act like Holy Fuck, at others as subtle as Junior Boys – and with a squelchy techno-disco heartbeat that reveals the Allez Allez influence. The druggy throb of ‘Sunporch’ and the euphoric warmth of ‘Burnt Sienna’ are greeted with cautious enthusiasm – although given the buzz around the band, its surprising that the mood isn’t more jubilant. However, Walls knock out over an hour of top notch synth symphonies, and by the end of the night, their expertly crafted electro stomp has at least some folk dancing.