wor_kspace @ The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 7 Apr

The Glad Cafe fills up quickly tonight. There’s the tell-tale signs of many a 'head': there’s enamel badges, beanies donned despite the heat of this packed room, and an eccentric Gen Xer wearing a large cowboy hat. We’re leaning against a partition by the sound desk, right at the back, nestled between two other solo-goers, but most of the audience appear to be family and friends.

The first three songs from National Park are patient and sunny jangle-pop. The four-piece begin with their most recent work – although as frontman John Hogarty notes, some of that work, such as The Only Stars, is from around 20 years ago. Live shows from this band aren’t common these days; for fans of the expanded Pastels universe, this is a momentous occasion. Things get really compelling on their staple No More Rides, with extensive fuzz-outs and a post-rock introspection akin to Mogwai and Ballboy. Another highlight is the bracing, melancholy Sterling – at its peak of feedback it’s not quite My Bloody Valentine shredding through You Made Me Realise, but isn’t too far off.

wor_kspace began life during lockdown as a dungeon-synth, then chiptune-of-sorts ‘laptop project’, as self-described by Finlay Macdonald. It’s quite striking where this gig finds them: debuting as a psych-pop quartet. It’s a family affair, with brother Alan on bass, resplendent in a frankly iconic black beret (both used to be in a band called Speedboat, we hear). Ray Macdonald, meanwhile, takes the reins on a brassy synth with consistent punch, while also lending her impressive voice to backing vocals.

Finlay himself sings his lyrics of digital alienation and quantum theory in a style that reminds us of the Canterbury Sound. Combined with the extremely tight jazzy rhythm section and driving rhythms (shoutout to drummer Lesley McLaren for her excellent work), it makes for something really compelling. Like a Scottish Stereolab, the band move from the likes of The Autonomy of Frames’ ridiculously catchy hook, through to electro-crunchy krautrock that would make TV/AM blush (Over Mountains, Collapsing the Wave Function), and back again to Silver Apples-style space-rock (European Road Trip). The influence of airy library music and exotica, though more explicit in the recordings than here, is also present.

“I tuned the wrong string,” Finlay notes at one point. Not that we’d notice. There’s a noodly run-through of Manifesto, before a punky version of CCTV closes the show – at least, we think that’s what it is, through the abrasiveness. With these cerebral songs translated into such an expansive sound, they really have a remarkable grit and weight to them; it is impossible not to dance. We can only hope to see far more from this rendition of wor_kspace in the future.