Turin Brakes, Sleepers Union at Regent St James

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

With Friday's southern storms threatening the national electricity supply, Turin Brakes was the safest gig in town.

With the London outfit's combo just voices, two acoustic guitars and an accompanying pianist, it would have survived any power cut.

Even without the microphones, you could imagine singer-guitarist Olly Knight and guitarist Gale Paridjanian would have made a pretty good fist of things if they had found themselves in a spot of post-blackout busking across the road in Aotea Square.

As it was on stage, they were low-voltage magic. Much of that was down to Knight's voice. He's yet another graduate of the Thom Yorke/Chris Martin/Fran Healey school of singing and the instrument upon which much of their frequently intense songs hinged.

But leavening that tortured-choirboy delivery was the playful tunes and black-humoured songs from the band's two albums.

"This is another song about having your heart smashed to pieces," joked Knight early on, and that wasn't the only time the pair suggested they aren't as serious outside the songs as they might seem while inside them.

The other appealing factor was the interplay of the pair's acoustic guitars, with Paridjanian's gorgeous playing colouring the songs with deft slide-work and lead figures of a bluesy tinge.

That, and the built-in-dynamics of the songs, stopped their set from losing its momentum as often happens with many an unplugged performance.

Swerving between faithful versions of their largely acoustic 2001 debut The Optimist LP and stripped-back takes on tracks from last year's band-backed Ether Song, Turin Brakes still felt like a rock gig.

One minus sweat and decibels, but with an emotive power in inverse proportion to its wattage.

In what seemed like a mismatched support act - droning electric guitars before acoustic headliner - Sleepers Union was less than edifying, despite the experience of the band's live personnel. They couldn't overcome a muddy sound mix and spark into anything quite as colourful or tuneful as last year's Giant Spheres album.