Live Review: Slowdive, Kane Ikin

Kane Ikin looks like a composite of every member of Coldplay, but his music couldn't be further from their stadium-sized, saccharine piano balladry. Ikin makes propulsive, nightmarish video-game music. His askew compositions twist and swell - all anxious synths, unsettling thuds and clicks. Many early-comers find it easy to talk over his experimental instrumentals but, for those paying attention, there's plenty to appreciate.

The five members of Slowdive emerge and slip straight into Slomo. The song feels generously paced, its introduction stretched out beyond even the album's seven-minute version. Last year's self-titled comeback album may have been one of the most rapturously received albums in the history of band reunions, but Slowdive aren't in a hurry to get anywhere. All of the song's elements are introduced one by one. The band essentially show us how the sausage is made, yet when it all comes together you can hardly believe how good it is!

Crazy For You oscillates easily between warm harmonies and dissonant cacophony. Avalyn is all build and provides Rachel Goswell with a solo vocal turn, which is always a good thing in the world of Slowdive. Brimming with reverb-soaked stabs of guitar and clattering percussion, Souvlaki Space Station feels like a real journey. When The Sun Hits and Alison are both gorgeous and inspire plenty of under-the-breath singalongs.

Tonight Slowdive achieve the extremely rare feat of having songs from their reunion album - like Don't Know Why and No Longer Making Time - as warmly received as favourites from their classic period. Sugar For The Pill is so treacly and lush you wish it would never end. A cover of Syd Barrett's acoustic ditty Golden Hair is imbued with a sweeping grandeur that's absent in the original, and swells to a truly stunning finale. Dagger is absolutely exquisite, putting a lump in plenty of throats. The band leaves us with one last burst of beautiful aural abundance in the form of 40 Days.

Though each member contributes amply to Slowdive's luxuriant sound, the most valuable player tonight is Goswell, who drifts from guitar to keyboards to tambourine - and various other shakers - all the while cooing celestially. The band's deep focus could be misconstrued as aloof or detached, if not for her looking through the audience, smiling warmly, welcoming us in.