Gomez's triumphant return, of sorts

After taking a year off touring and fair bit longer from the last album, Gomez played one off show as a warm-up for American trip where they’ll be gigging from 20 January (Boston) to 10 February (Anaheim). All this activity is a preview of their yet-to-be-titled fourth album due to be released in May.

Playing to 1,000 souls in London is a small gig for them but they’ve never held back on performance and one’s impression is that it could be Shea Stadium or LA Forum. Gomes do it and do it well. Although what they’ve been doing may have been a wee short of their debut album, ‘Bring It On’, the Mercury Music Prize winner of 1998 (over The Verve, Pulp and Robbie Williams). It is rumoured that the new album is “back to the roots” but on tonight’s evidence, with only several tracks inlcuded, we can’t conclude either way.

The fact is that Gomez’s eclecticism has always been inspired by Americana that, thanks to some wise-ass’s remark, it shares the main qualities with the country: the best thing about it is the worst thing about. First, democracy: a concept nice on paper but usually fails to work in practice. Gomez have three vocalists and one of them is excellent (Ben Ottewell) while the other two are far less so: Ian Ball and Tom Gray. Ottewell sounds like smoked-out Tom Waits-of-Mississippi.

Then, their inspired paranoid sound of Delta Blues - psychedelia - art - experimentalism were once their strange currency but a lot of people have jumped on the bandwagon since, from Kings Of Leon to The Thrills. Of the new tunes, ‘Sweet Virginia’ is a ballady tune with an incredible instrumental coda, while ‘Catch Me Up’ (lead single) and ‘Silence’ (noiser of the two) appear to share common ground with The White Stripes.

But the ‘oldies’, such as almost-dub of ‘In Our Gun’ is still as intriguing as at the maiden listen and the show closer, ’Whippin’ Piccadilly’, gets everyone singing-along. Great night, great gig, great band.

Still, what Gomez’s future contains definitely depends on the new songs.