Allo Darlin’ @ The Lexington, London

A mirror ball spins patterns over the many bodies in The Lexington. Beautiful, sensitive and sophisticated looking indie girls are huddled together at the front of the crowd effervescing with excitement. Allo Darlin’ are celebrating their album launch tonight, there is much to be excited about.

These vigilantes of indie pop are four friends whose affinity for each other and their music is so apparent it’s a glorious communion for everyone both onstage and off. They are Elizabeth Morris, Paul ‘Thunder’ Rains, William Botting and Michael Collins, with a guest appearance from Johnny Helm of The Wave Pictures on shaker duty for extra percussive punch.

They open with ‘The Polaroid Song’ where Paul plays his guitar as if sound were light; his, molten sunlight bouncing on water. The room is instantly lifted and bones start to shake and jump as soon as the boys thump in their rhythms. This action continues until ‘Heart Beat Chilly’, where Paul and Elizabeth are left alone. Paul sits with his lap steel, seeming like a man of 400 years trapped in the body of a 25 year old. This love song is a sublime union of ukulele and lap steel, of melody and narrative, with homage to Johnny Cash thrown in to boot.

Michael’s drumming in the chorus of ‘My Heart is a Drummer’, the last in the set, sounds like a racehorse at full gallop, despite the fact that he never sat behind a kit before this new bunch got together, his handle on his sticks is impressive regardless.

Elizabeth graciously takes up the ukulele to sing the poignant ‘Tallulah’ for the encore before full band return and the moustachioed William Botting introduces ‘What Will Be Will Be’, with a solitary bass hook reminiscent of Lou Reed’s ‘Take a Walk on the Wild Side’.

Allo Darlin’ are like the good guys in an epic action adventure flick and Elizabeth Morris our heroine. Understated, a slip of a girl with holes in the toes of her tights, shoeless and beautiful she delivers their adventures in love, Paris, Australia and Sweden, creating moving pictures in words. Her voice invokes a bitter sweetness; yet she seems to relish each experience she shares. It would be foolhardy to underestimate her exceptional talent. Perhaps they’re here to save us all from the evil fame farms that spew out the talentless homogeny we suffer in the mainstream?