Prehistoric Friends @ The Hug & Pint, Glasgow, 23 Oct

“Well, some say we turn into ghosts/or that we become one of the stars,” intones singer/keyboardist Liam Chapman, at the helm of the surging pop epic Mammals. We’re nearing the end of Prehistoric Friends' superb, emotionally vibrant set, and on the strength of the group’s blissfully atmospheric performance tonight, it’s the latter – the prospect of stardom – that this outfit assuredly deserve.

Our primordial friends have been more than ably supported, too. Replete with the kind of well-oiled, moseying basslines that transform The Hug & Pint’s subterranean band room – decked out tonight in a forest of potted greenery – into a snug speakeasy, Dave Frazer & The Slave Labourers have the joint at near capacity for their opening slot. The Antipodean frontman matches a Mark Knopfler-esque huskiness to his group’s benevolent blues rock. When they cede the stage to Edinburgh's string virtuosos eagleowl, who oscillate steadily between serene ballads and smooth pop, there’s a warming energy that forges a complementary link between tonight’s supports.  

The spotlight, though, belongs to Prehistoric Friends, an accomplished bunch drawn together from the likes of Admiral Fallow, Miaoux Miaoux and Friends in America. If their debut is a neatly cut fossil – clean, cohesive, and well polished; onstage, the group breathe life into the bones of their self-titled record. The yearning Wisdom Tooth is fleshed out with a rumbling rhythm section and Nichola Kerr’s lithe viola, whilst Bermuda Triangle springs into action on a bundle of bossa nova beats.

Not content with showing off their musical prowess, Chapman and Kerr give us value for money in the between song banter department too (the track Gentle Giant now forever ingrained in our minds as the slightly less decorous ‘Genital Giant’). Plants, fossils, keyboards and laughs – it’s a delight from start to finish. Primeval they may call themselves, but Prehistoric Friends are very much a band of the moment.