Music review: Model Aeroplanes, King Tut's, Glasgow

This year's King Tut's Summer Nights showcase of upcoming Scottish bands drew to a close at the weekend, attracting an audience of fans, friends and family into the venue at an otherwise sleepy time of year.
Model AeroplanesModel Aeroplanes
Model Aeroplanes

Model Aeroplanes ****

King Tut’s, Glasgow

Friday’s triple bill brought together an indie pop pick’n’mix of young bands from across the country, kicking off with Edinburgh quartet Vistas, who dispatched their upbeat, chiming guitars and choppy rhythms with a breezy confidence belying their 18 months as a band.

Glasgow four-piece Fauves were more diffident performers but gradually revealed more layers to their sound which wove together lithe, springy, occasionally funky basslines, Afrobeat-influenced ringing guitars, and even a touch of electro jazz synthesizer at one point into a slacker indie whole.

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Headliners Model Aeroplanes, hailing from the “tropical paradise” of Dundee, were the veterans of the bunch, having formed eight years ago when the bandmates were in their early teens. Their greater experience was telling throughout their tight, energetic and likeable set, where new songs, including a day-old slick, funky opening number and the spangly pop affair that is Fever, sounded as radio-ready as more seasoned material.

Collectively, they have the boy band looks, the ready banter and the pop chops for commercial success. Better With You stood out in a strong set for its stomping, gleaming 80s pop in the mould of Lexicon Of Love-era ABC, while the sleek wah-wah, analogue keyboards and spacey psychedelic funk of Straight Girls Are Strange Girls was an appealing left turn.

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