Stornoway: iTunes Festival: London 2010 EP

Stornoway’s Beachcomber’s Windowsill is one of the most promising debuts of the year, but for musicians with so much sunshine and passion in their music, it is the live show that makes or breaks a band. Luckily, from the opening fragile notes that sail from lead singer Brian Briggs’ mouth on the earth-shatteringly wonderful “I Saw You Blink”, it’s clear that we should have never worried. An eager pace and tight performance carry these folk-tinged strum-happy gems from CD to the stage with a delightful ease; these are songs that suit a small pub on a Sunday as much as they do a headlining show on the main stage at Glastonbury. Listen to the urgency in Briggs’ voice in “The Coldharbour Road”, the shimmering waves of guitar at the climax of “On the Rocks” and the irrepressible joy that resonates from just about everything in “Zorbing”; this band is destined for the top.