Leif Erikson, Klangstof and Swimming Tapes bring the riffs to Thursday's Five Day Forecast

First up was Northern Ireland via London’s Swimming Tapes, who impressed us last year with their Real Estate-esque earnestness and charm with their string of sweet singles “Set The Fire”, “Souvenirs” and “Tides”. With three guitarists, each track’s dreaminess was done justice without sounding too busy.

But where Swimming Tapes provided a blanket of clean tones that mirrored their recordings, Dutch newbies Klangstof delivered a much more playful and rough-around-the-edges performance compared to their last London show at the Camden Assembly back in October. Frontman Koen Van De Wardt had a crazed look in his eye as he played with the crowd, elongating the quiet passages and overdoing the loud, as with closer “Amansworld”, which saw him join the crowd for its piercing guitar solo end. The Lexington’s unforgivingly honest acoustics complimented the band’s mixture of guitar and synth work well, and was particularly effective for the progressive build-up of “Doolhof”.

Taking to the stage as headliners of the evening, London five-piece Leif Erikson took on the role with a modest confidence and got straight to matters: no-nonsense, riff-ready bangers with a pervasive, atmospheric hue à la The War On Drugs. Warmly welcomed tracks such as “Real Stuff” and “Looking For Signs” were designed to be played for bigger crowds than even a full-capacity Lexington, and there’s no doubt from last night's performance that they soon will.