Friday 27/04/07 The Envy Corps, Stray Borders @ The Barfly, Cardiff

When it comes to chest-beating anthems, nobody does it quite like the Americans. Indeed, when British bands try their hand at stadium-sized rock it can sound somewhat formulaic and poorly repackaged. This year alone has seen a number of well-bred American bands invading these shores with a hankering for emotive yet accessible tunes, the most notable being The Hold Steady. Hailing from the American Midwest of Iowa, The Envy Corps may well be joining this set of ebullient songwriters with a sound that weaves between the likes of The Verve and The Killers.

First up were Cardiff’s Stray Borders who produced a set that was crammed with slowing-burning instrumentals and cavernous atmospherics. The brooding ‘I Don’t Mind Waiting’ was agitated-rock at its best but at times the band’s sound gets unnecessarily elongated by overly-dynamic musicianship. Next up were rambunctious Penarth trio The Hoods. The band spent the majority of their set pillaging from the likes of Supergrass with songs that concentrated more on cranking up the volume than any sense of individuality. The closer ‘Blowing Kisses’ was a lot more acute than previous effects with a cutting riff snapped between 60’s surf-rock and 90’s punk-pop.

The Envy Corps introduction was fairly redundant with a Barfly crowd full of holes. The band seemed nonplussed by the low turnout and instead focused their attentions to providing those present with a set of elegiac indie-rock anthems. Lead singer Luke Pettipoole is hardly the archetypal front man with an unkempt beard and western-style braces, but his lush timbre sat beautifully between the rest of the band’s diverse melody.

The chugging ‘Rhinemaidens’ embodied every that is great about America’s finest bands; with the driving rhythm’s of Modest Mouse interspersed with a glorious vocal reminiscent of The Shins. The rock-synth escapades of ‘Sylvia The Beekeeper’ leant heavily from the same song template as The Killers but extracted the pomp and instead heaped on the grandeur with piercing guitars and cracked vocals.

The band closed with the bluesy ‘Story Problem’, a song drenched in beatific Americana that climaxed in a wave of ‘sha la la’s’ that would’ve sounded more comfortable on the terraces than in a near empty Barfly. The next few weeks will see the band support The Killers in their native U.S and than head back over to the U.K for a support slot with The Editors. It’s the least they deserve.