Official Secrets Act @ Manchester

• 20th Feb 2009

March 26th Roadhouse, Manchester

“Artrocker favourites. Set to start 2009 with a fervent bang” Artrocker

“Expect them to be one of the worst kept secrets of '09” Clash

“Thunderously exciting” The Guardian

Once upon a time, in a land known as Leeds, Thomas Burke (vocals, guitar), Lawrence Diamond (bass) and Alexander MacKenzie (drums, vocals) bonded over Television’s Marquee Moon and The Band’s The Last Waltz. However, it is fair to say, that Official Secrets Act only became complete once Michael Evans (guitar, harmonium, synths, drums, vocals) came on board after seeing the band play a characteristically exuberant early show in Edinburgh.

The band have shared stages with the likes of Art Brut, Thomas Tantrum, Pete And The Pirates, and Dirty Pretty Things (on their final tour), gradually furthering their cause as one of the country’s most exciting live bands. The recent Offset Festival found the band making their main stage debut, in a superb show preceding Gang Of Four.

The debut Official Secrets Act album, Understanding Electricity, from the London-based 4-piece is released on 30 March 2009 on One Little Indian. It is an exuberant set of romantic indie-rock-synth-pop with a dark side, the album hosts killer singles and tracks sophisticated far beyond that of your average debut.

Official Secrets Act take indie-rock as their starting point but love to jump off in different directions, with a tight sense of 70’s punk-funk giving way to a 60’s brooding torch song or a heartfelt paean to 80’s synth pop – all with a crystal-clear 21st century sound that has retained a real organic warmth. The eclectic yet coherent set of adventurous pop songs on Understanding Electricity deal in love, death, religion, anxiety, innocence, morality and more, in an intelligent but accessible way.

Steve Lamacq has described them as “the most lyrically erudite band I’ve heard in a while”, and Artrocker were on the money when speaking of their “acute sense of poetic lyricism, incredible knack for pop harmonies and wonderful sense of Englishness.”