EIF: Lankum @ The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, 17 Aug

Lankum are a band who take great pride in their wonderful recorded repertoire but make it known that they revel in a live capacity in an entirely different way. At The Queen’s Hall tonight as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, they assume their place, and make sure no one present was in any doubt of that fact.

Scattered across the stage are a number of curious looking instruments wild and numerous enough to fill an institution that is part music shop, part oddities-and-antiques shop. With the density and intricacy of spatial arrangement on stage, it is no wonder Daragh Lynch has to comically run off to an unseen space to grab a bow, which he then brandishes with a grin as his bandmates laugh at him.

Radie Peat, aside from her award-winning voice, deals primarily in the gorgeous warm tones of a hand-pumped organ. Meanwhile, Cormac MacDiarmada focuses on fiddles, but smacks his foot ferociously off a stomp box (the lack of stomp boxes elsewhere does nothing to dissuade the rest of Lankum from wearing the rubber off their shoes just as enthusiastically).

Ian Lynch brings into the growing fold a tin whistle, uilleann pipes, concertina, several keyed instruments and even a hurdy-gurdy; Daragh sticks to guitar, but doesn’t let the traditional expectations of the instrument confine him. Behind them, John Dermody, as a supplementary performer for the night, whacks numerous drums, and sings along to every song with vigour and immeasurable heart despite not having a mic. With the aid of their studio producer John “Spud” Murphy controlling the sound, across every conceivable combination of the orchestra of noise-making tools at their disposal no one section of a Lankum song sounds similar in arrangement  to another.

​​​​Across an hour-and-a-half, the four-piece (aided by Dermody’s gleeful guest appearance) navigate a set that covers their history thus far. The New York Trader from latest album False Lankum nods to the punk influence Ian later speaks of between songs, as the room thumps to the aggressive beat of the song that gets chanted as much as sung, in a rendition that manages to be even more raucous than the already break-neck recording. The contrast between the delicate beginning of Go Dig My Grave and the abrasive sonic assault of its latter moments is equally as impressive and hugely demonstrative of an act with dynamic capacity that is unparalleled by most of their contemporaries in any genre. Among many stunning moments of group vocals, fan favourite Cold Old Fire reaches chilling perfection.

Image: Lankum @ The Queen's Hall for Edinburgh International Festival, 17 Aug by Jess Shurte

The band are effortlessly charming in their chat. Ian boldly proclaims that hangovers are the final vestige of shamanism for humankind before launching into On a Monday Morning led by Daragh, who in turn plays upon the humorous supposition that varying pronunciations of Edinburgh ("Eh-din-bruh; Eh-din-buh-ruh") might be a symptom of sectarian divide, and suggests that the huge drum played by Dermody might in fact be a Lambeg drum repurposed from prior Orange Order usage – with further smiles at recognition of how well-received his potentially racy joke leading to related accusations of Radie’s orange shirt.

After an hour, Radie claims with a wink ("Well, we all know how this works") that they’re about to play their last song. Of course, after a set nothing short of mesmeric thus far, the Dublin group receive a standing ovation and rapturous applause. Without the admittedly tired theatrics of going off stage only to re-emerge as if it wasn’t planned, they break into a further few songs. Hardly a soul in the room can catch their breath, and no doubt a few hearts stopped in wonder as another sprig of instrumental excitement is woven into the set seeing tensions rise and drag the crowd into a Dublin port bar amidst a waft of tobacco smoke and sea-spray.

Lankum are perhaps the most impressive live band in the world right now, and anyone who might question that can do nothing but live in a state of unknowing, or smooth over their doubt by letting themselves be washed over by ethereal music whenever they can soonest find themselves in Lankum’s presence.

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Edinburgh International Festival runs at various venues in Edinburgh until 27 Aug; eif.co.uk