The sound that So So Modern make is really very difficult to describe, especially as one walks home with ringing ears, very confused. Apparently, they are the ‘ultimate Hoxton band’, thanks to their colour, their matching hoodies and their loud, synth-heavy electro-dance. And it is impossible to look away.

Thing is, they are from Wellington, New Zealand and can’t possibly have been indoctrinated with the Hoxton trends, thank god. But the room was full of those young things with intimidating haircuts tonight, all bopping along wildly to the incessant, dissonant racket this four-piece produced. One unfortunate young man seemed set on rubbing keyboardist Aiden Leong’s hooded head in a way that suggested something more than the mere affection of a fan. Leong did not like this too much, and indeed he and his band had to usher the prancing fool off stage when he jumped up with them.

But this homoerotic episode gives you an idea of just how infectious the band are, and, as I say, their ‘songs’ have a strange magnetism that isn’t down to a sterling rhythm and certainly isn’t melodic charm. Perhaps their appeal is the sheer anarchy of it all, but to meet these boys is to encounter a bunch of softly spoken and very friendly gentlemen. It is anarchy, but a noble, necessary anarchy that we could all do with. A jarring evening in which So So Modern offered aural electro-shock treatment. Excellent therapy.

Barnaby Smith