If Danish quintet the Kissaway Trail's live act were more like their tremendous eponymous debut album, there would be choirs and orchestras on stage. Swans would float past ridden by angels playing harps, and their mellifluous racket would literally have bells on. So it is a surprise to discover just four guitars, four microphones and a drum-kit.

Still, the sense of scaled-down spectacle is a metaphor for their fledgling career. It's certainly a mystery why the Trail are still in tiny venues while Arcade Fire - their closest soundalikes - are playing arenas. It is not for lack of firepower. Their epic sound is a joy: huge rollercoasting arrangements based around uplifting chord changes and machine-gun drums. New single 61 is particularly stunning, waves of Cocteau Twins-like beautiful guitars that form torrents of astral bliss. You would never know that the song was inspired by the number of days a band member had to wait before hearing whether a family member had a life-threatening disease. And the band look the part: pretty boys with trousers so tight you can see the coins in their pockets. So why aren't they huge?

A possible chink in their armour is that the falsetto vocals that sound so mesmerising on record are occasionally exposed as awkward by the unforgiving live sound. Thus 61's stadium-sized chorus sounds like "The cat was drunk, we had to beat it" instead of "We can be strong, we'll beat it." Vocal tics aside, the immediacy of their tunes and hint of wistfulness within suggests an A-ha-type commercial colossus waiting to burst out.

However, a mysteriously brief set reveals their achilles heel. They have two moods - stoic, vaguely haunted euphoria and determined ecstasy. If they can find a couple of different gears, they will be a sensation.

· At the Tunnels, Aberdeen, tonight. Box office: 01224 211121. Then touring.