Bearsuit @ King Tut's, 6 Mar

Support tonight comes from Paisley’s Siamese Ghosts, who sound something like a male-fronted Gossip: big, soulful riffs, plenty of dramatic pauses, and incongruously operatic vocals. In many ways, in fact, the antithesis of Norwich’s Peel favourites Bearsuit, who prefer to eschew sassiness for silliness.

That said, the electro-indie five-piece – who have undergone significant personnel changes of late – have toned down the crazed exuberance somewhat for their new album, The Phantom Forest. Early material is conspicuous by its absence tonight; although it’s understandable that Bearsuit are reluctant to trot out their career-defining Hey Charlie Hey Chuck for every gig, it’s a risky strategy to pursue. The new material lacks the gloriously messy qualities of their early gems: single Please Don’t Take Him Back is almost subdued by their standards, and sounds a little formulaic live.

Yet Bearsuit’s pop sensibilities are still evident in everything they do, and ten years into their career, it’s understandable that a reflective edge is creeping into the songwriting. Highlight tonight is A Train Wreck, another new song, which entwines that edge with the kind of shouty pop hooks that make the early material so good. If this is the sound of a band growing old, they’re doing it surprisingly gracefully. [Sam Wiseman]