Spectrals @ The Water Rats, London

In an alternate timeline, Louis Jones would be entertaining crowds of sexually frustrated 1950s teenagers as they embarked on an awkward, slightly gropey, first dance at their senior prom. There, we said it.

If you think that sounds like the lost ending to the first Back to the Future film, you’re right. It also means you’ve made it through the grammatically questionable first paragraph and found our point. Well done. Have we mentioned that we love you?

A far more concise view is that Jones (under his Spectrals guise) offers up the sort of nostalgic song craft that few, to this point at least, have convincingly delivered: he uses surf-rock tones without reducing songs to the same faux-Beach Boys style employed by many of his contemporaries; he pens witty lyrics about failed romances without ever seeming trite; and, somewhat crucially, he uses rib-crushing amounts of reverb to excellent effect.

Monday’s album launch was a perfect showcase of these talents. Playing to room packed out with fans, fellow musicians (including Eagulls, who we caught at the bar) and at least four people intent on having a forty minute dance-off, Spectrals battled the heat and rattled their way through cuts from their excellent debut LP, Bad Penny.

‘Big Baby’ and ‘Get A Grip’ immediately highlighted why Wichita snapped them up so quickly, whilst the brilliantly woozy, sliding guitar lines of ‘Peppermint’ served as a touching nod towards the people who have followed the band since the early EPs.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the show, however, was the way the slower numbers were received. ‘Lockjaw’, with its waltz-like pacing, is one of those mid-set songs that would usually spark an exodus to the bar - yet Jones ensured that the audience remained completely captivated throughout.

Spectrals have already risen to the top of a genre that can be an absolute minefield for certain performers. If they keep turning in performances like this, you’ll be hearing much more from them in the not-too-distant future.