Sonica’s remit to pair innovative sound and visual artists always brings together unique international talent. So it is with tonight’s decadent double bill. Essentially, it’s designed for the 6 Music crowd; too old to rave but too young for dad rock – a discerning bunch who are into genre-defying experimentation.

Grand River, the project of Berlin based musician Aimee Portioli, sees her emerge from refracted smoke, created by her collaborator Marco Ciceri. She’s like a Lynchian figure, whipping up choppy percussion that’s at once a nod to electronic pioneers like Delia Derbyshire and a post-techno soundscape. Tracks lifted from recent album All Above are intense, beautiful music that evokes the heady, hedonistic atmosphere of European club culture.

Headliner Gazelle Twin, aka Elizabeth Bernholz, has long played with English myth and folklore, tapping into folk horror tropes. But her most recent album Black Dog sees her work become more intimate. It’s not so much a fear of the unknown, as a primordial shudder. She’s referencing her own night terrors and inner demons.

In a ’70s style living room, with standard lamp and patterned rug, she becomes a twisted storyteller. Gone are the masks of previous iterations, and now Bernholz’s soaring, looped vocals are given more room to breathe. This is most apparent on a visceral, chilling ‘Fear Keeps Us Alive’, a meditation on women feeling safe walking home alone in cities.

The visuals, all bleached out duplicates of Bernholz and dilapidated houses, are retro, a nod to vintage thrillers and analog equipment. The imagery may reference the past, but the music, with its juddering, shapeshifting synths, is completely future focused. It is, unfortunately, a maddeningly brief set.