Its been a pretty peachy 2013 so far for emerging British duo AlunaGeorge. After two years of rumbling along in the undergrounds of the industry, they were given mainstream exposure at the turn of the year when they finished runners up in the BBC ‘Sound of 2013’ poll and shortlisted for the BRITs Critics Choice award, having been narrowly beaten by Tom Odell (previous winners include, Adele, Jessie J and Florence and the Machine). Much hype has begun to build around the twosome, real names Aluna Francis and George Reid, with appearances at a number of festivals and on ‘Later..with Jools Holland’ they have finally managed to bag a couple of top 40 hits in the last six months, way before the release of their debut album.

Much was to be expected of this one off London gig from the group. Many fans are arguing over what genre they actually fall into. Many have called them electro, some say they’re experimental R&B, or even a new brand of pop. So, a live performance should be able to place them firmly under one bracket, right? Wrong. The tone to the gig constantly changed throughout and kept the crowd buzzing, with performances of all of their released tracks so far including their first major breakthrough hit ‘Your Drums, Your Love’ and more recent hit ‘Attracting Flies’. The duo have so many different sounds it really is hard to place them in the industry, but maybe thats the magic behind them. They can go from electro pop with future big hit ‘You Know You Like It’ to chilled out r’n’b vibes complementing George’s honeyed vocals on their aforementioned debut single.

What this gig has done is build up the fan’s anticipation for the upcoming release of their debut album, Body Music, which is little under a month away. Although the group have been reasonably generous with a handful of releases so far this year to hint at the album’s content, fans at this sold-out gig were given exclusive listens to some other tracks from the LP to compare the rest of their material. ‘Lost And Found’ is a vintage sounding school-disco belter that wreaks of future hit single, even providing an unstoppably catchy chorus, and ‘Outlines” provided the rowdy crowd with some respite, with soothing vocals from George showing their elegant versatility. ‘This Is How We Do It’, their inspired Montell Jordan cover, was a surprise inclusion and sent the crowd wild ,as well as showing the duo’s performance ability has really matured and become entirely professional. With the singer bopping along to her drum and bass accompaniments showing they can do live as well as electronic music, and Reid grooving along while working endlessly at his production table, they have managed to create a set that manages to keep every ounce of the fun that has made them, rightly one of the most popular new bands of the year.