Edwin R. Stevens is a wonderful opener for caroline; the Glasgow-based Welsh artist has been in a number of bands (Klaus Kinski, Sex Hands) and recorded as Irma Vep for over a decade. Now performing and recording under his own name he seems to have distilled his music down to its essence: just a guitar and his winding, surreal stories. The closest analogue may be Richard Dawson in his wicked way with a subversive image, but Stevens feels like a true original. The audience is shockingly quiet for an acoustic opener and even at the back you can easily make out the words. The final words of ‘The Bunker’ (from forthcoming album A Plague of Gimps) hang in the air like an uncomfortable aphorism that might be genius or nonsense: “Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Pearl Harbour / Nagasaki, Guy Ritchie, 9/11”.

There are eight people in caroline, but they arrange themselves in a surprising way that leaves a lot of space at the centre of the stage. They’re in two vertical lines facing each other, with the drums just off-centre at the back. This creates the impression that they’re performing at each other, rather than towards the audience. And the space in between mirrors some of the best parts of their music, those moments when the chaos and cacophony fall away and a single instrument or voice remains, achingly bereft of all else.

The whole of last year’s excellent caroline 2 is played, its lucid contradictions on full display. The interplay between trombone and viola on ‘When I Get Home’, the sparse acoustics and un-mic’d vocals of ‘Tell Me I Never Knew That’, the beautiful build and release of the grandstand finale, ‘Total Euphoria’. These are individual moments that stand out, but the whole hour and change flows seamlessly as the band demonstrate an intuitive understanding of when to raise the energy and when to let it recede.

‘Coldplay Cover’ is the highlight of the evening. Jasper Llewellyn explains that it was recorded by having two halves of the band in separate rooms, playing separate songs, and then capturing the meeting of sound simultaneously in the flat where they were recording. This is where the stage setup really pays off and gives a perfect visual representation of the how the band’s superficial incongruity is actually a carefully layered and deeply felt experience.

caroline are one of the most innovative bands around right now, experimental yet emotional and unafraid to take risks in service of a more powerful musical experience. Llewellyn expresses surprise and sincere joy that 400 odd people would show up to see them, so far from home. On the strength of their latest album and this performance, he’s going to have to get used to it.