Avi Buffalo @ Rough Trade East 25/05/10

"We met Jimmy Page today" says Avi Buffalo drummer Sheridan Riley, "He looked like David Carradine." Given that Carradine accidentally killed himself by auto-asphyxiation last year many might consider being a lookalike something of an insult but coming from the innocent lips of this band? It's nothing more than giddy excitement.

Making a whistlestop tour of the UK, Avi met the Led Zeppelin hero at the BBC6Music studios and though he is not in attendance this evening the spirit of his guitar don skills certainly are. To put it simply Avi Zahner-Isenberg is an astounding six stringer, an acolyte of the axe. Throughout this short, instore appearance so many of the songs are transformed from pleasant tales of lovelorn indie romance into something entirely diffrerent through Avi attacking his fret board and stroking the strings just so.

'Truth Sets In' transforms from delicate and pastoral to wild and psychedelic and the charmingly coy 'Jessica' raises itself on its hind legs when Avi brings a wall of distorted noise three quarters of the way through. It's an excellent tool to have in the bag for a band who without it could be accused of being slightly dull. There is nothing wrong with the hazy summer afternoon jams like 'Where's Your Dirty Mind' but perhaps their ideal setting is, y'know, in the sun and not a small London record shop.

However, the guitar skills combined with a dorky sense of humour and the bands undeniable, Shins-inspired songs proves a hard combination to resist. As the ringing notes and yearning passion of 'What's In It For?' ring out Avi Buffalo extend the afternoon sun for one blissful extra hour.

Avi Buffalo @ Rough Trade East 25/05/10