@ Summerhall, Edinburgh, Mon 22 Feb 2016; and
@ QMU, Glasgow, Sat 12 March 2016

Tuff Love are the band you wish you’d heard of first. Unfortunately for us would-be trendsetters, they’ve been releasing music since way back in 2014. But panic not: seeing them live makes you feel almost as cool as they are. Julie Eisenstein (guitar and vocals) and Suse Bear (bass and vocals) – backed up by their drummer Iain Stewart – are just the right mix of hard and soft. Like the cooler, older sister of Wolf Alice, their dreamy vocals cut with irresistible riffs are simultaneously relaxed and rebellious.

Promoting their new album Resort in Summerhall, Edinburgh, they achieve a tone that is summed up perfectly by one of their better known songs, Sweet Discontent. They don’t have the self-indulgence to be classed as angsty, yet you wouldn’t exactly describe their music as cheery. The song Penguin, especially, seems to just get on with things without fussing and whining. That’s not to say Tuff Love have no bite: the teasing opening riff of Slammer combined with paradoxically calm chorus I’ve got rage” is enough to disprove this by itself. Eisenstein and Bear prove that they believe what they sing through their effortless, honest interactions both with the audience and with each other: they are friendly and personable without begging us to like them. The strength of the bass, guitar and drums overshadowed the floating vocals at times, making the lyrics difficult to hear, but this is a result of the softness of the harmonies which would be ruined by screaming and shouting.

Summerhall was a fitting place for such a pared back, fuss free band. On entering the venue, school disco memories do make you feel as though your parents might pick you up any minute, but Tuff Love’s grown-up grunge quickly dispels this worry. Although it’s too late to claim you discovered them, there’s still time to get your teeth into Resort before it’s playing on every station.