Grizzly Bear @ ABC, 2 Nov

From the moment Annie Clark – A.K.A St. Vincent – steps onstage, her moniker makes poetic sense. Her presence hushes the crowd, as though she were some kind of saintly figure, and her performance only bolsters that sentiment. Her breathy vocals somehow soar over the heads of the audience whilst still feeling whispered in the ear. Before such intimacy becomes unsettling on its own, Clark treads on a pedal which duplicates her voice into a choir, adding to the already eerie sense that the songs emanate. The effect is other-worldly.

Grizzly Bear prove that they too carry the weight of their namesake, but with the lightness of touch of something much daintier. They create a pulsing, shimmering ocean of sound, and skim their voices like stones over the top of it: throwing reverb-soaked vocals across its surface as if to see how far they can go. The audience appear calmed by the performance - almost reverent - and the allusion of a saintly presence that Clark began is sustained as the harmonies that characterise Grizzly Bear’s style hint more than a little at plainsong. Given the venue’s high ceiling and the stage-set of candle-like light bulbs, we could almost be in a cathedral, enjoying the echo. But Grizzly Bear never appear as men expecting to be worshiped. Instead they exude a graceful, humble charm, and thank the crowd profusely. [Anna Meldrum]