Honeyglaze @ King Tut's, Glasgow, 26 Nov

South London trio Honeyglaze’s 2024 record Real Deal was a big step forward for the band musically, building on the lyrical honesty and woozy indie-pop of their self-titled debut. More hooky, self-assured and sonically experimental than their earlier efforts, it pushes their sound into heavier, darker places – think head-banging guitar breaks, a furious racket in the best possible way.

Appearing on stage at King Tut’s just two months after the release of Real Deal, singer and principal songwriter Anouska Sokolow seems keen to celebrate the record’s heft. It’s a treat to hear her unleash the rasp and anger that her voice is capable of. Her vocals thrive on the new songs, such as the menacing and moody Ghost or the punky spoken word of Don’t. These go down best with the crowd, too. It’s an unusual crowd – who at times seem hard to please.

This is never clearer than when Sokolow tries to engage the audience in a game: “We’re going to play a little game, you cheer for the song you want to hear, okay?” is met with little more than a quiet rumble but she ploughs on. “Do you want to hear Female Lead or Shadows?” She pauses between both titles and while Female Lead does indeed generate a bit of interest from the crowd, the relative quiet after she announces Shadows is strange. “Oh, okay. poor Shadows,” she says to her bandmates, before launching into Female Lead, a wry and thoughtful song about female anxieties.

Honeyglaze are a young band with a stage presence that doesn’t quite match the sound and fury of their own songs, but this will no doubt come with time. They are skilled instrumentalists who have a great live harmony together, dealing with the challenge of an unusual crowd split. Tonight, there are two clear camps: young people, around the same age as Honeyglaze themselves, who sing along to every word and older 6Music Dads who bop their heads appreciatively and form an orderly queue at the merch stand as soon as the gig ends. These are a couple of great markets to have cornered, but I guess when it comes to the latter, the message is simple: don’t play games with them. Which is kind of what Real Deal is all about. Maybe that’s why they liked it so much.