BEING hand-picked by The Raconteurs to open their first UK shows is an auspicious enough start for any young band, and the 747s have certainly lived up to their billing.

Spending most of last year on the road sharpening their wits and honing their skills, multi-cultural 747s are releasing their second single Night & Day on Monday.

It is a taster of why Jack White felt a kinship with them with ascending harmonies and a rollicking R&B rhythm like a Heroes-era Bowie, Night & Day is about the end of a relationship which Singer Oisin Leech described as "literally like someone chopping my arm off."

With three-part harmonies, a Strokesian tempo and a guitar solo which would make even Jimi proud, the single has come out of a melting pot of different influences: first written in Donegal, Ireland, with guitar parts added in Germany and harmonies worked out in Southern Italy, the band have combined the bohemian flavours of their combined experiences and fused them into a raucous, exuberant and life-affirming single.

Released on Ark Recordings, the single is out on Monday, May 29.