Zoey Van Goey @ Classic Grand, 5 Feb

Preceding the shy stature of Malcolm Middleton with a mass choir – The Sirens of Titan, who enter from a balcony perch wearing sunglasses and chanting – was a deft move. Middleton takes his place quietly, acting the perfect antithesis to the collective chorals that went before. Playing under the new guise of semi-instrumental project Human Don’t Be Angry, he sits head-bowed, cap on, and wordless for the majority. Sparse, verse-style lyrics (of rolling rivers and lovers eyes) become the backdrop to bassy, guitar-based extended instrumentals. A mini power-cut breaks up his short, three-song set, but there’s enough promise there to keep us intrigued.

Glasgow foursome Zoey Van Goey, launching second album Propeller Versus Wings, start with track one, the slow-burning Mountain On Fire, and continue song-by-song. The Cake and Eating It is a chirpy highlight with a back-and-forth duet between drummer Matt Brennan and lead singer Kim Moore, joined on-stage by Strike the Colours' Jenny Reeve. Coo-cooing the chorus whilst bathed in pink strobe lights, it’s as colourful and twee as anything they’ve done.

Elsewhere they forage musical territories new, joined by the brass section of the Second Hand Marching Band for their jazz effort My Aviator and the punchy guitar-backed You Told The Drunks I Knew Karate, before sing-shouting their way through the punk-led Robot Tyrannosaur, completed with hyper drums and audience-enlisted chants for our eponymous fictional robo-saur. It seems their perfectly-formed indie-pop template has become a little less constained. Breezier, and with dinosaurs and karate chops in tow, a proud unveiling of ZVG: Phase Two. [Anna Docherty]