Faced with the American invasion of bands wielding noisy guitars, a clutch of new British groups is quietly organising a resistance. However, rather than fight the enemy on their own terms, the likes of Haven and Mull Historical Society are waging war with the age-old tool of classic songwriting.
Nudging towards the front of the pack, Minuteman are a four-piece fronted by Matt Jones. Formerly keyboard player with the briefly hip Ultrasound, his new incarnation is basically a showcase for his often wonderful songs, which dip into the magical well brought to us by Squeeze, Elvis Costello and even the Hollies.
However, the battle cry has yet to reach Sheffield, which hasn't exactly turned out in force. Faced with a stifling atmosphere not unlike a tea party in a morgue, Jones initially attempts to make conversation but soon enough decides to win the crowd over with his music. He's hardly the most conventionally charismatic frontman in the history of pop (in fact, he's not unlike Neil, the hippie from the Young Ones), but he demands attention. It's his voice that grabs you, a curiously passionate, innocent sounding thing: Elvis Costello as a child.
Jones's happy-sad songs tell dark tales of betrayal and relationship disasters. But they carry a real lyrical bite, with Words Fail Me Now, in particular, capable of bringing tears from a statue. Jones is also clever enough to lace his bitter words with sugar, his trademark being glorious, head-rushing choruses; 5,000 Minutes of Pain could almost be a modern take on Merseybeat. He is fond of curve balls, sitting down to play keyboards, dipping into Beck-style Americana and at one point smothering his sounds with electronic seagull noises.
Rather than close with the usual big number, Minuteman say their farewells with a curiously avant garde adventure, where fragile waterfalls of beautiful Durutti Column guitar combine with a staccato drum machine. At the close, though, the band blast into a Nirvana type freak-out straight from the textbook of American noise. Perhaps, in order to beat them, you just have to join them for a while.
