It's been an incredible couple of years for this South London acoustic duo and tonight represents something of a triumphant homecoming. This is the final date of a mammoth UK tour, which has seen Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian's star continue on its unabated ascent.
The slow-burn sales of debut album 'The Optimist LP' (200,000 and counting), Brit and Mercury nominations, the 'Ether Song' album debuting at No.4, not to mention their first top five single with 'Painkiller', (something that Olly is happy to remind us of before tonight's rendition), all amounts to an incredible success story for two barely recognisable, under-assuming folkies from Balham.
What emerges over this comprehensive 90-minute set is that these schoolboy chums have finally come to terms with their new-found status. The two stools and tiny venues have long since gone but the emotional impact of their well-groomed songs has not been lost.
Neither has their sense of humour - parodying themselves with the first few strums of David Gray's 'Sail Away' before laughing off critics' attempts to vilify them as Gray's slightly hipper cohorts.
Ably supported by a full band, it takes The Brakes a few numbers to find their stride, as old favourites 'The Door' and 'State Of Things' are played out at the wrong speed while the fragile wash of 'Stone Thrown' leaves the crowd subdued.
The instinctive on-stage chemistry between them soon starts to work its magic though. Dedicated to the Prime Minister, they launch into a surprisingly raucous and edgy 'Average Man'. In fact, the new songs that sound distinctly, well, average on record are taken outside and giving a good roll in the dirt and served up as existential angst.
There's the grinding yet anthemic 'Long Distance' and the sonically adventurous 'Little Brother', all warped guitars and broken beats. Standout though is the quirky electric guitar melodrama of 'Panic Attack', which climaxes with an incredible intensity redolent of Pink Floyd, and suggests we may wish to stand back for the prog-lashed conceptual next project!
On the older material, Knights' yearning vocals melt into lush electronic soundscapes, while Paridjanian's slide guitar subtly complements the fragile web they weave. Laughing in the face of their detractors, the duo finish with a suitably triumphant 'Painkiller'. Tonight The Brakes have proved that not only can they write nice songs but they've also got the confidence to take them places other than on to the Radio 2 playlist. Maybe quiet is the new loud after all.
