Wild Nothing @ The Kazimier, Liverpool, 18 Mar

A newcomer to Wild Nothing might be taken aback by both the turn-out and anticipatory air at Liverpool's marquee-like Kazimier tonight. After all, isn't this just typically hazy, spring-break road-trip fare? Pleasant and all, sure, but ultimately placid, even a bit... featureless?

They'd be forgiven for thinking so: on first listen – nay, on several listens – Virginia native Jack Tatum's temperate, unconcerned pop songs do little to impress themselves on the memory. But, as with sonic bedfellows Real Estate, who came to UK attention around a similar time in 2009, Wild Nothing's trick lies precisely in seeming unremarkable, in seeming straightforward, when in fact, a few months later, Tatum's subtle, yielding melodies've eked their way under your skin, like when you look at your best mate and realise you've been in love with them for two years, you just hadn't noticed.

What this evening's gig shows up, however, is that this paradox in their sound – somehow intoxicating in its listlessness, confident in its mellowness – is still at its best on cuts from debut album Gemini. Though last year's follow-up Nocturne may have hinted at a moodier, more introspective character, its songs felt far less complex than the likes of the wistful and surging Drifter or the ruminative Live in Dreams; and it's notable that tonight's room only really comes alive for one song from the new record – the propulsive, saucer-eyed Paradise – with the rest of the evening's highlights belonging to the faded-photograph wanderlust of Gemini's Chinatown ('we're not happy ‘til we're running away’) and encore-closer Summer Holiday. [Laura Swift]