Reviews

Gomez, The AmbassadorWho do Gomez think they are? Nabbing the Mercury Music Award with their début recording, releasing three more albums in as many years and purveying music so full of surprises it seems as though the CD changer is having hiccups, these capricious scousers have puzzled and entranced in equal measure. South of the border from Gomez's hometown leads to the mouth of the Mersey, not the Mississippi Delta, although their signature rootsy blues and divinely growled vocals suggest otherwise.

At the end of their Irish tour, however, Gomez seemed quite at home. As another chorus of adulatory "olés" rang around the Ambassador, we were reminded that some of the most memorable tunes are imported and delivered out of context.

As if to stretch the irony, the concert got underway with a mariachi cover version of the unforgettably disposable tune Whippin' Piccadilly blaring over the PA. Pursuing with an uncharacteristically energetic performance of recent single Shot Shot, the group were keen to demonstrate their new sound. Despite briefly departing the laid-back, stoner-sympathetic standards, it soon became clear the new sound is not remarkably different to the old one.

Evolutionary links slotted neatly into place during a set divided between new album In Our Gun and fanbase establishing début, Bring It On. An assured crowd favourite, Love is Better Than a Warm Trombone, moved happily to the interplay of the three distinctive vocalists and scattershot guitar riffs. Later, Ping One Down repeated the dynamic, but laced it with more effects: Ian Ball chanting through a murky vocoder while Ben Ottewell's throat-stripping croon required no further treatment.

Some lethargic inclusions may have dampened proceedings, but the handbrake-turns of Ruff Stuff saw Gomez back to their eclectic best. Ending with the same song they began with, they never seemed so sure of themselves.