Pity Sex @ Bloc+, Glasgow, 21 May

Cymbal bags and guitar cases strewn about at the audience’s feet, the setup at Bloc’s 12th REPEATER event has all the messy homespun ambience of a flat gig. Between them (a bizarre and rapturously received cameo from rappers The Bin Men notwithstanding), this three band bill comprises a comprehensive review of 90s alternative rock, with Get Well pilling on the shoegaze, Womps representing the tuneful thrashy punk of America’s west coast and Pity Sex channeling a bit of both, interspersed with stretches of clean jangle reminiscent of Modest Mouse or Built to Spill’s brighter material.

Pity Sex’s audacious name belies a cordial and reserved attitude, the band beginning by thanking the venue staff and what is at this point a packed house, the crowd perch on tiptoes between tables and crane around a pillar behind the stage for snatched glimpses at the band. Further rapport is scarce however: halfway through their first UK tour, Pity Sex seem fatigued and a little bit nervous, fumbling awkwardly between songs and occasionally playing with their backs to the audience.

Some niggling sound issues don’t help matters, with guitarist Brennan Greaves’ mid-range vocals getting lost amid waves of distortion, along with some of his more precise finger work. Bandmate Britty Drake’s higher register fares better though, and both come through loud and clear for the chorus-pedal soaked refrain of Sedated, a slower number which in Bloc’s humid climate becomes a woozy yawn of burnt-out pop bliss. It’s also one of several occasions when audience members can be seen mouthing the lyrics, an impressive response for a band from Michigan with just one full-length and an EP under their belt playing a bar venue at the other side of the world.

And while it’s to a polite smattering of applause that Pity Sex bid farewell, there’s a lingering sense of camaraderie amongst the audience almost as thick as the muggy air, the band’s workmanlike enunciations of familiar frustrations all the more cathartic in the context of the evening’s occasionally taxing logistics. [Andrew Gordon]