Air Traffic - Live
[Liverpool Academy 2]

There are no two sides to Air Traffic, their uncompromising keyboard bolstered debut album Fractured Life bears this point out.

Tonight, with little fuss, they kick off through the climbing keyboard intro to ‘Just Abuse Me’ that builds into a melee of sliding guitar-led indie and switches back again to embolden their genuine, range flitting craft.

Vocalist Chris Wall and Co keep focused and bring their album foraging to the live setting. Wall cuts a stern and driven figure, as he sits in front of his keyboard sideways to the audience, glancing over approvingly at the bounding and pogoing taking place when numbers from the debut album are fired out with gritty belief.

The Winding Travis kicked ‘Time Goes By’, makes best use of the pronounced sound in this quaint venue where viewing opportunities are at a premium. The lurid and catchy indie dirge of ‘Charlotte’, shows a searing seedy side that inevitably wins vast approval on a Saturday night.

Air Traffic don’t do image and they don’t do pretence, yet their growing popularity is not in question tonight. Something that is surprising in this current climate, eh?