How tempting it is to dismiss El Diablo, Nashville-revivalist darlings of Dublin's excruciatingly hip alternative country set. Arriving on the coat tails of authentic neo-cowpokes Joe Pernice and Ryan Adams, the Dublin three-piece claim unimpeachable totems - including Emmylou Harris - as forbears and spout self-regarding bilge about reclaiming country's tarnished legacy. But their irony-deficient aggrandising is almost too much to swallow.
Ah, but we're forgetting the music: languid indie pop bathed in blissful slide guitars and deliciously ragged faux-American vocals. Partly recorded in Nashville, recent debut long player 23rd Psalm Cafe was string-soaked and flirtatious, electrified by Anna Carey's brittle singing and Patrick Freyne's hectic fretwork.
On stage, El Diablo exhibited a heartening - and unexpected - irreverence for their dust-bowl influences. Chirpy covers shared the floor with boisterous self-penned compositions that displayed a keenly observed grasp of the fundamentals of pop writing. Wispy and fragile, Carey was the fulcrum. Her falsetto nestled in your gut. All bluesy flourishes, Freyne's edgy playing recalled the frazzled insouciance of his other group, avant-noiseniks NPB. Bassist Pol ╙ Conghaile contributed meaty riffs.
El Diablo's sweetly na∩ve take on low-wattage country has won a substantial local following. But can they squeeze free of the provincial mire? Not without forsaking those over eulogised tumble weed obsessions. They have foraged in the past. Time now to investigate the future.