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There’s a lot to be said for the charm of the two-piece band, isn’t there? Two likeminded musicians – one always hopes they like each other immensely – getting together to kick out some pared-down, stylish chops (they’ve got to be stylish, or else it’s just going to look sad), working with a set of limitations that doesn’t allow for excess fat. There’s nowhere to hide – with the notable and noble exception of Andrew Ridgely, but he probably didn’t want to hide, did he? Bless him, wonder what he’s up to these days…

So, New Yorkers She Keeps Bees are our two-piece for this evening – we have the virtuosic Jessica Larrabee at the front, and him on the drums (aka Andy LaPlant) at the side, quietly pounding out the rhythms. Their stylistic spectrum is, on paper, diverse. We have scuzzy, sub two-minute grunge; we have reverb-laden almost Björk-esque minimalism; we have jazzier pop warblings, pawing at the door of the Winehouse pantheon, albeit without the weapons-grade level of polish that implies. I mean, we could throw some White Stripes into the mix too, but maybe that’s a touch lazy.

It’s all very accomplished too – we have a pair here who know how to do a music. Larrabee has quite the range and the pipes on her, and no small quantity of swagger (though she is playing the dorky charm angle between numbers). Feeling a ‘but’ approaching, are you? Yes, you’re quite right to. Here it is: it’s hard to put your finger on why, but there’s something slightly unsatisfying about this – a certain edge, the lack of which one perhaps feels more keenly due to the fact that it is SO CLOSE. All the things you need to make this work are there. And indeed, they might be said to have made it work – there are a lot of people here, after all, in the sold-out up-and-coming den that is Hackney’s Moth Club.

I don’t know, is it because it sounds like so many other things but nothing unique? Despite the changes in tempo and style in this band’s 10-year oeuvre, the show feels a bit of a slog for anyone paying rapt attention. Maybe if it was an incidental soundtrack to something happening in your life, you could be into it. We are here, though, to listen to this. And maybe it is a bit boring…

Feels sort of churlish to have these sorts of reservations about a clearly talented group with a solid fanbase, but that’s the point of music criticism, isn’t it? To tell people they’re wrong. But maybe only a little bit this time…

Mansoor Iqbal