If you see enough music, you develop an instinct, a feel if you like, of when a band has ‘got it’ – there’s a lot of very fine musicians out there, just drop into any open mic night and you’ll be amazed at the standard but an indefinable something needs to be present to set an act apart. When I first saw Light Falls Forward at The Grain Barge earlier on this year, the instinct kicked in midway through the second song and nothing I saw at The Stag and Hounds on Thursday night has altered that view one jot. The Bristol based band is the musical project of Naomi and Charlie Evans. They started out as a folk-based duo on their first EP, and one marriage and two EPs later, the sound has morphed into something quite different and quite wonderful. They play in various configurations à la Paper Aeroplanes, as a duo, trio and quartet but every so often they’re joined by the ‘Falls Forward Fiddlers’ (no, that’s not their real name) a four-piece string quartet and this is where the fun really starts.

They’re very late on tonight, everyone is, and to my astonishment they decide to play without a sound check – just think about that for a second, there’s seven of them – with two of them up there it would be risky, with a full deck it borders on folly. But fortune favours the brave and apart from a bit of snap, crackle and pop at one point and one humungous but mercifully brief bit of feedback from Jacob Garside’s cello that sounds like a flatulent elephant, the sound is immaculate throughout. And what a sound – this is a band with a very highly developed and distinctive sense of melody that infuses every single song.

Centre stage and focal point goes to Naomi, she cuts an imposing figure on stage, tall and upright delivering the lyrics in a lovely mezzo voice and with a lively piano technique that pins the melody down and cuts sharply through the background.

Charlie’s acoustic guitar work is pivotal to driving the sound on. As the band primarily plays without a bass player or a drummer, it becomes a substitute for the rhythm section – it would be good to see him stretch and show us the full range of what he’s capable of playing.

The lead guitar work is left to Jack Stanton, almost obscured by the two lead players – he’s got a difficult task as the only ‘electric’ player in an essentially acoustic setup but plays with infinite subtlety throughout, punctuating the sound with fluid and incisive lead lines from the Telecaster. It’s to be no exercise tonight in promoting the new EP ‘Sleeptalking’. There’s a mix of older songs from previous recordings ‘Journey’ and ‘Songs and Shadows’ on offer and a brand new one, only just finished, called ‘Still Warm’ which seems to simply continue the progress and development of the musical style from the last EP – it’s a very fine song.  The strongest material on the night though comes from ‘Sleeptalking’ – the glorious, wistful, questioning ‘What If” (OK, it’s my favourite) is run close by ‘Is This It?’ and ‘Only When We Sleep’, the latter providing the night’s best showcase for the string section, they’re flat out on this one and make a pretty awesome sound. They show exactly why it’s better to have live strings rather than a string machine or a sampler, four bows cutting though the air catching every available shaft of light is a very special image.

But if Craig Thomas’ mellow viola and the sharper attack provided by the violins of Charlie Rose and Annalise Lam add the Champagne sparkle at the top end, Garside’s lush cello tone adds the velvety pint of Guinness to the lower registers, sweeping, dramatic and full, it’s also an essential part of the ‘substitute’ rhythm section, propelling the music forward with great power. 

Spectacular stuff and over way too soon.  The full Light Falls Forward line-up play Thekla on Sunday 25th May, with the excellent Tom Mitchell supporting Blair Dunlop.