WINNIPEG - On their soon-to-be-released second album, The Stills do a complete about-face, trading in the post-punk soundscapes of their debut disc for an earthier, more organic vibe.

So, of course, we were curious to see how the band would reconcile its before-and-after incarnations during a preview gig at the West End Cultural Centre Tuesday night.

We weren't disappointed.

The Montreal quintet wisely kicked things off with a cut from the "Something New" column, in this case the epic In the Beginning from the upcoming release Without Feathers.

Taking to the stage amidst a squall of sweeping organ, crashing piano chords, and frantic tambourine, the band gave notice that The Stills of today are a much different beast than The Stills of a few years ago.

Gone were the disco basslines, Moog keyboards, and the Echo & the Bunnymen-era howling of Colin Fletcher.

In their place? The piano and organ swells, and the bell-bottomed soul-stylings of drummer-turned-guitarist (and singer) Dave Hamelin.

But not for long. For their second number, the band dipped into its back catalogue, allowing Fletcher to take the mic for Lola Stripes and Stars (the opener from their last CD, Logic Will Break Your Heart).

The tambourine was still there, but this time augmented by much choppier guitars, dreamy synth-chords, and a toe-tapping bass rhythm. And so it went, for much of the show.

The anthemic The Mountain (more organ) gave way to the angular Gender Bombs, which saw Fletcher doing a spot-on Ian McCulloch, drawing his words out for longer than you'd think was possible. Then it was back to the ragged glory of Baby Blues (which suffered only minimally from the absence of Metric chirper Emily Haines), then on to Changes Are No Good, with its frenzied, New Order-like ending.

In a nod to their dual-frontmanship, Hamelin and Fletcher pretty much shared centre stage all night, engaging in between-song banter that seemed to fall flat with the sold-out crowd.

But who needs banter when you've got the equivalent of two bands -- one an artsy new wave outfit, the other a down-and dirty rock combo -- playing at the top of their games and even achieving a bit of a synthesis by the time their show was over?

Earlier in the evening, Toronto noise-popsters The Diableros offered up a rousing taste of their recently released (and awesomely titled) You Can't Break the Strings In Our Olympic Hearts.