Monday 11/04/11 The Low Anthem @ Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Four albums in now, and Rhode Island’s The Low Anthem are still managing to operate more or less under the radar, while simultaneously nudging at the borders of musical success. Having self-released their previous two albums, ‘What The Crow Brings’ and ‘Oh My God Charlie Darwin’, it was a championing of the band by End Of The Road festival in 2009, together with signing to Bella Union in the UK and re-releasing ‘...Charlie Darwin’, that seem to jolt them forward and under the noses of anyone paying careful attention. And while ‘Smart Flesh’, the latest long player released only last month, still sees the band in as lo-fi and DIY a mode as ever, the majestically anthemic ‘Boeing 737’, soon to be released as a single from the album, is likely to thrust this foursome ever further into the limelight.

As usual, London knows its onions, and the Southbank Centre’s relatively cavernous Queen Elizabeth Hall is packed out to witness firstly, a new fan-winning opening set from support band The Head and The Heart, followed by two hours of The Low Anthem circa 2011.

Those who have managed to pick up ‘Smart Flesh’ in its first month will know that lo-fi is very much the order of the day, and true to form, pretty much the first four songs are delivered in a whisper, including (album and gig) opener ‘Ghost Woman Blues’, and the gentle ‘Ticket Taker’ from the last record.

Five in, and the ante is upped only slightly, with frontman Ben Knox-Miller swapping his quiet acoustic for an electric guitar, before continuing to strum as gingerly as ever to a stripped down ‘Apothecary Love’.

Band and audience interaction is minimal, and there is a nervous feeling that this gig could go either way, before the unexpected occurs. A crackle develops in the speakers, band and sound engineers look at each other blankly, and amplification ceases.

They say in football that a flash of skill or moment of inspiration can turn an entire game. As the power dies, in a heartbeat Knox Miller has whisked the rest of the band, complete with violin, clarinet, acoustic guitar and double bass, up into the middle of the audience, and there they play a four song acoustic set while the engineers get to work. The audience are immediately bowled over, the cheering and applause doubling and tripling in volume as traditional covers including ‘The Ould Triangle’ and ‘Cigarettes, Whiskey and Wild, Wild Women’ are poignantly delivered, complete with four part vocal harmonies.

Technical problems more or less sorted, The Low Anthem run back down to the stage, and such is the warmth in the atmosphere created by the interlude, the rest of the set is a breeze. It includes the spellbinding three part classical clarinet piece ‘Wire’, composed and led by band clarinettist Jocie Adams, a couple of upbeat numbers in ‘Hey All You Hippies’ and the Jack Kerouac-penned ‘Home I’ll Never Be’, and the new album’s epic title track ‘Smart Flesh’.

The aforementioned, horn-led ‘Boeing 737’ brings the house down and could easily have satisfied as the set-closer, but instead the band bring the gig full circle, laying aside the big instruments and gathering once more around a central microphone to lull us off into the night. This gentle finale includes the previous album’s title track ‘Charlie Darwin’, and a mesmerising and almost a capella harmony version of ‘To Ohio’, which will have firmly implanted itself in the minds of the crowd as they head out into the windy London evening.