The Horrors, Troxy

Former spiney goth-kids The Horrors have finally grown up; and they'll prove it on October 4 with a gig at the Troxy.

Reformed neo-punk rockers turned shoegazing instrumentalists The Horrors will light up East London mecca Troxy on October 4.

Once notorious for looking like they'd been dragged out of a primordial tar swamp - and sounding like it too - the band began to shed their bedraggled gothic image with the psychedelic tunefulness of second album, Primary Colours (2009).

Their transformation from raven-nest-haired cover-stars of NME has continued apace and this year's Luminous sees them steam onwards with bigger, more expansive sounds. 

Lead single, and seven and a half minute epic, I See You is typical of the album with its whirling guitars, dreamy sounds, and complex, revolving drumbeats interlocking around lead singer Faris Badwan breathy vocals before climaxing with a gloriously extended outro. 

The whole album feels as if it was recorded in the desert, at full moon, as paean to a kind of cosmic shoe-gaze. The liberal use of wah-wah pedals and hazy keyboards on songs like Falling Star certainly help.

The band’s high priest Badwan and his musical brothers have effected a convincing musical reinvention. Clad in their trademark black, they have emerged from their chrysalis like sulky, leathery butterflies, channelling greats like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive - but a little bit cleaner; a tiny bit studied.

And these butterflies put on quite the show. Don’t miss this noisy autumn gig – it’s selling fast.