Gig review: Jaill - Stereo, Glasgow

“THIS one don’t have anythin’ to do with y’all, ‘cause y’all seem like real sweethearts,” ran gum-chewing Jaill singer and guitarist Vincent Kircher’s polite introduction to the snarling Everyone’s A B***h, framing at a stroke the curious and – if you’ll excuse the pun – arresting jumble of transgression and trusty convention this Milwaukee indie rock quartet present.

Star rating: * * * *

Bands signed to Seattle’s legendary Subpop – historical home to Nirvana and Soundgarden, and such hip contemporaries as Fleet Foxes and Beach House – rarely disappoint. Currently touring Traps, their second album for the label, Jaill are no exception.

Their’s is a driving, punky strand of 1980s US college rock-inspired songwriting that never quite comes fully in nor out of fashion. A potent mix of jangly psych-tinged grooves and acerbic wit, as powered by Kircher’s overdriven strumming, twangy solos and taut, shrill vocals, a drummer who spent substantial part of the set steadily whacking the bejesus out of his ride cymbal with stony-faced intensity, and an electronics man teasing trippy wibbly-wobbly sounds out of a synth and Theremin.

Coming across like the sort of bunch who as good as live in their practice space, The Stroller and Waste A Lot Of Things felt 
so tight you could practically have cracked walnuts between the up and down strokes. Kircher’s thanks to the crowd near the end came with an invite to join the band at a nearby casino to place some bets and drink some beers after the 
show.

Whether or not their luck proved to be in at the blackjack table later on, Jaill at least left the stage holding a winning hand.