ELECTRIC GUEST at Rough Trade East

"Wow, everyone in London is super attractive”, Asa grins at my brother and I, along with the crowd of patient faces waiting for a hug and an autograph from the rather short and very lovable lead singer of Electric Guest. If this flattery was just a way of getting us Londoners on-side it really wasn’t needed, after an impressive 7 song set at Rough Trade East on a freezing Monday evening.

Electric Guest is made up of the Los Angeles-based two-some Asa Taccore (lead singer) and Matthew Compton (drummer), along with (extremely serious) brothers Todd and Tory Dahldoff who tour with the band.

After, admittedly, only having discovered the electro-pop duo a couple of weeks prior to their in-store session I had no idea of the extent of their success and connections. Asa revealed Dangermouse produced their debut album ‘Mondo’ and is set to produce the follow-up too (hopefully hitting remaining music stores in April 2013) - “yeah, it was easy as Dangermouse is a friend of ours and he lives just up the road from us...so it was all super chilled.”He also explained that the hotly-tipped American sisters of HAIM had “done the graphics” for ‘Mondo’ and backing vocals on a couple of tracks.  The band have also toured with Metronomy and Darwin Deez.

After some infectious head bobbing along to the band's take on 60s Californian soul Asa announced on-stage that Dangermouse had told him he wasn’t “opening up enough” with his song writing and needed a break to clear his head and gain inspiration and experience, “so we went to San Fran, went to a bunch of parties, and after that the album just flowed out.”

Front-man Asa’s energy and absorption in each song seemed in no way forced and reminded me of a less sweaty and less leg-wiggly version of Ed Macfarlane (Friendly Fires).

Their presence is both relaxed but urges for some sort of recognition, an innocent eagerness for fun and fame. They don’t seem to be faking anything, and they were constantly thanking the East London crowd throughout the session for the positive reaction.

Electric Guest’s debut album as a whole is refreshing to listen to in a month of cold and grey. And the kick behind Asa’s impressive range is fantastic.

Let’s hope the follow-up will be progressive and equally as refreshing, as it doesn’t seem the two-some will agree to throw in the towel any time soon.

Rough Trade East in-store track listing:

The Bait

Amber

Awake

Holiday (from Holiday EP)

American Daydream

This Head I Hold

Holes