Pioneering Texan post-rock quartet Explosions In The Sky kick off the UK leg of their current tour at a packed out Mandela Hall. With their latest album Take Care, Take Care, Take Care showing some much-needed compositional progression, have their so called “cathartic mini-symphonies” aged well since they last graced these shores three years ago?

Hailed in many circles as England’s answer to Sigur Ros’s uniquely panoramic approach, Newcastle sextet Lanterns On The Lake prove themselves to be an exquisitely lulling, generally convincing support act. That said, whilst Hazel Wilde’s lamenting vocals sweep and seduce with ease, regurgitated sentiment and ‘by-number’ songwriting habits automatically make even their most intoxicating efforts sound a little dated.

With tonight’s crowd virtually heaving with expectation, Explosions In The Sky emerge just before 10pm. Following guitarist Munaf Rayani’s self-effacing “thanks for being here”, the band tear totally unabashed into ‘Catastrophe And The Cure’, a highlight from 2007′s Suddenly I Miss Everyone, the barraging opening bars and spectral crescendos of which barely conceal the approval of tonight’s crowd.

Tremolo-drenched and underpinned by a ‘sleep and release’ approach they practically invented, it’s a defiant and compelling opening. Better still, forming from under a wall of looped pockets of sound, ’Last Known Surroundings’ steadily reveals the four-piece’s ridiculously intuitive interplay, Mark Smith’s swooning guitar bends sounding like the work of the Pixies’ Joey Santiago after being exclusively subjected to Mogwai circa Young Team.

As expected, songs in excess of 10 minutes define Explosions’ set. They serve much less as standalone anthems as they do strands of a coherent, though at times generic whole. The hiccuping structure of hopelessly triumphant staple ‘The Only Moment We Were Alone’ sees the biggest reaction thus far, its closing onslaught an exhilarating highlight before raucous throwdown ‘Greet Death’ forces Rayani and drummer Chris Hrasky to lose themselves amidst the cacophony.

Despite the mildly disappointing conservatism of tonight’s Sunday night crowd, ‘Let Me Back In’ conjures real curiosity from many, not least due its evasion of Explosions’ standard – though perhaps overemphasised – songwriting formula (quiet noodling-anthemic chorus-release-onslaught-anthemic chorus-sleep). It’s a breath of harmonic fresh air, a reprieve from the band’s at times nauseatingly kneejerk ‘everything’s going to be alright’ shtick.

At the end up, with their feel-good climaxes and crowd-pleasing twists, two final anthems in ‘The Birth And Death Of The Day’ and ‘The Moon Is Down’ conclude a joyous, altogether uninterrupted re-invitation to discover the majesty of Explosions In The Sky’s unmistakable sound and undeniable legacy. Whilst there’s a real sense the music world has moved on, very few bands measure up to their uncanny ability to lessen the distance between us. Brian Coney

Photo by Luke Joyce. More here.