Cold Cave

Almost inevitably, the shout goes up in the block of dead air after Philadelphian trio Cold Cave wind up their final track: ‘One more tune!’ Apologetically, bandleader Wesley Eisold turns to the crowd before getting busy unplugging his bank of synths. ‘We don’t have any more tunes,’ he shrugs regretfully. Nonsense, man. New Order released eight albums, surely you could have found a few more in there.

OK, that’s a low blow. Cold Cave are actually pretty good, if we just acknowledge the fact that they’re wholly unoriginal. It’s not even the first time this century that a band have combined austere electronica with gloomy, post-Manc vocals, or used the initials ‘CC’ either. Cold Cave sound as much like Melbourne’s glorious Cut Copy as they do Factory’s early roster. Playing Sneaky Pete’s customarily packed Playdate night, Eisold, Caralee McElroy and Dominick Fernow don’t have to work hard to storm an onside crowd, and ‘Love Comes Close’ is an ice-cold anthem of the moment. Considered in isolation from the many bands they echo and in the absence of an impending New Order reunion, they even sound a little like the future.