CHVRCHES @ O2 ABC, 11 October

It would be hard to name any band who could pull off two sold-out nights at the O2 ABC after just a little over a year of touring and releasing music. Yes, CHVRCHES' sound is rooted in a pop aesthetic – comparisons to Lana Del Rey or Ellie Goulding are as fair as to Grimes or Chromatics, although they have much more in common with the do-it-yourself, analogue synth-driven style of the latter than the over-polished commercialism of the former. The undeniable pulling power of the hooks in tracks like Lies or We Sink have brought them to this point, but tonight the trio prove that there is more at play than a keen ear for melody and a masterful control of a stripped synth and drum-machine setup.

For starters, there's Lauren Mayberry – her voice is sugar-sweet, in the mould of the pop princess, but it is also powerful – she leans back from the mic, allowing her clear tone to ring out with natural reverb. The fearsome strength of her lungs is hard to deny, and the acid bite of her lyrics burns even deeper than on record. Her bandmates are equal partners, and when Martin Doherty steps up to sing Under The Tide, it proves an anthemic highlight – proof that time on the road has sharpened their edge considerably.

If there are criticisms to be levelled, they are merely to do with legacy – tonight the band play every single track from their debut, and unfortunately some of the slower moments, like the dream-pop of Tether, or the Johnny Jewel-esque By The Throat, do kill the pace a little. The crowd, while enthused, are not going wild – not until the glorious finale, where the band play their cover of Whitney Houston's It's Not Right, But It's Okay, followed by a deliriously energetic The Mother We Share. But in a few years time, when they have more than an album's worth of material to draw on, this will not be a problem at all – especially if they keep delivering the hits.

Mayberry's relaxed stage presence and banter (she tells an anecdote about dumping her high school boyrfriend here "for fingering a girl in the toilets") suggest a frontwoman who is here to stay, comfortable in her own skin, brimming with ideas and talent. The boys, meanwhile, in front of an astonishing new LED lighting rig, perform like their very lives depend on it. What CHVRCHES have in spades is talent, passion, and hooks.