Caught Live: Crystal Stilts + Girls Names @ The Grand Social, Dublin (04.11.11)

Dour Brooklynites Crystal Stilts emerged from the shadows on April's In Love With Oblivion long-player, with songs like album standout 'Shake The Shackles' and Scott Walker-meets-Nuggets dirge 'Flying into The Sun' marking them out as serious contenders rather than mere well-coiffed gloom rock revivalists. Radiant Door, the band's forthcoming EP for Sacred Bones, sees the five-piece expand their sonic palette still further, twisting their jangly, nocturnal guitar sound into new and unexpected shapes.

Last Friday night, the New Yorkers delivered a stylishly nonchalant performance at Dublin's Grand Social. It was hard to tell whether it was jetlag/fatigue or perhaps simply the band's inherently frayed-around-the-edges aesthetic that caused the second half of their set to sag somewhat, but on the whole they managed to give a solid if unspectacular account of themselves - even if smilingly aloof frontman Brad Hargett did appear worryingly detached from his bandmates at times.

There was already a decent-sized crowd inside the loft venue by the time CS's Slumberland compadres Girls Names arrived onstage and proceeded to tear through their reverb-heavy set. Dead to Me, the Belfast trio's NIMA-nominated debut LP from earlier this year, undoubtedly deserves to reach a wide audience, and Friday's display offered the uninitiated a smart introduction to their artful brand of C86-tinged noise pop. Recent single 'Black Saturday' was an obvious highlight, sounding to these ears a bit like Wild Nothing jamming with A Place to Bury Strangers. More of the same please.

We hadn't asked Fiona Diffley to shoot in black-and-white, but the fact that she did so puts a suitably sullen glaze on our live gallery. Click on any of the thumbnail images below to view a slideshow of Fiona's photos.